Hiccup and Toothless
by skyressshun
Summary: modern how to train your dragon gender swap Hiccup is bullied at school but when she and a certain someone meet a night fury in the woods their lives will change forever
1. Chapter 1

My name is Sarah Haddock but everyone calls me hiccup why well because when I was younger I used to have hiccupping fits whenever Arden Hofferson talked to me luckily he considers me an absolute loser now so I don't have to worry about that anymore. I live in a small village called Berk, never heard of it I'm not surprised it's very small no more than 100 people live here. I'm 11 years old and I'm about to start secondary school, you're probably thinking that's great a chance to reinvent yourself well I'm here to tell you otherwise because I'm probably the most hated person in the entire village which if you think about it is very impressive because just about everyone in this village is bitter and cruel so being the most hated out of all them is pretty impressive. My father, Stoic, is the mayor of Berk and to be quite honest I have no idea what that entails so don't bother asking. Me and my father don't have a great relationship he got extremely over protective after my mother died 2 years ago she was in a car crash and her spinal cord was severed she was in hospital for 3 days before she died in her sleep, after her funeral dad tried to convince me to leave normal school and go into private tutoring at home but I wasn't going to let him even though I got bullied (he doesn't know that) I still had some friends they were teachers but still friends I wasn't about to lose the only friends I'd ever had because he has issues I wasn't even sure if I could call them friends since the only time I ever really spoke to them was on the trial day when they decide if they want you or not.

When my dad woke me for school I had this horrid feeling and seriously reconsidered his offer to leave school but I couldn't go back on my decision or I would never hear the end of it so reluctantly I dragged myself out of bed "you can still leave school you don't have to do this" my father whispered to me as I sat on the edge of my bed rubbing the sleep out of my eyes "well thank you for the encouraging words dad" his face turned cold and he dropped my uniform on my lap "get dressed" with that he turned and left allowing me to get changed. I examined my uniform and safe to say I was not impressed it was a white polo shirt and a plain black jumper which my father had got 2 sizes too big I could just hear what his reason would be "you'll grow into it" he classed that as an explanation I classed it as him being cheap, you wouldn't think a mayor would be cheap but trust me when I say he is 1 of the cheapest people in the village.

After I was dressed in my deeply unimpressive uniform I decided to examine it in my full length mirror to see just how awful it actually was and just as I predicted I looked horrid in it. I looked anorexic. I walked into the kitchen and saw my father standing over the sink I steeped to the side so I could see his face he had a scowl embedded into his features he always got this way. "Calm down nothings gonna happen it's just school" I tried to reassure him the way a mother reassures a toddler on their first day of school "I know I just worry ever since your mother-" I cut him off I didn't need to be reminded of her on my first day "I know I really do but nothing will happen I promise" I really hope I can keep that promise but you never know what will happen on your first day "I have to go now I'll see you tonight" I waved by to him as I walked out the door and made my way to what was probably my decent into hell.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't till I reached the door that I realised I was starving I was so caught up in not being late on my first day that I completely forgot about breakfast not that it really mattered I could just get something at break, right, at that thought I searched through my pockets to see what money I had only to find that my father had given me nothing, thanks dad very thoughtful of you, oh well only 6 hours right I can survive that, easy. I didn't have enough time to contemplate that thought because the reminder I had set on my phone last night went off telling me I only had 5 minutes to get inside find the office and get my schedule, sounds easy right well it isn't seeing as this is my first time going in the school and actually paying attention to where I was going on the trial day I got lost, embarrassing, its even worse when you find out its only 3 floors.

After an excruciating 10 minutes I finally found the office it was in the far end off the second floor which made the fact that I couldn't find it sting a little less. I took in a deep breath and prepared myself for whatever horror I had convinced myself was on the other side of that door, when I pushed down the handle a feeble click sounded that seemed deafening to me seeing as how scared I made myself. "hello" an old woman greeted me sitting behind a desk opposite the door I smiled at her feeling all that fear evaporate from my body "hi, I'm a little late and was wondering if I could get my schedule?" I walked over to her and smiled trying to seem confident even if I didn't feel it she seemed to buy my confidence act because she asked me my name and printed out my schedule. I thanked her and walked to my form, as soon as I reached the door the bell rang signalling that first lesson was about to start. I stepped to the side of the door allowing everyone to pass me once everyone had left I walked into the room to introduce myself to my teacher. As I walked through the door a young woman probably in her early 20s faced me she had a fair face and a small smile that balanced her out perfectly looked at me for a few seconds her smile never wavering after a few more seconds I realised that she was waiting for me to answer her "oh… uhh." I didn't know what to say I thought quickly and said the first thing that came to my mind that seemed like it was relevant but honestly I was so nervous anything sounded good to me "I'm Sarah and I'm in your form and I …umm… just wanted to introduce myself" I gave her a smile and she replied with an even bigger one "ok Sarah, I'm miss Jensen… and uhh would you like me to get you your schedule?" she was nervous to that was good it meant she was new too wait did she say she would get my schedule perfect I just wasted 10 minutes.

After me and miss Jensen talked she wrote me a note for English and sent me on my way. On my way to English I found my mind wondering to what I would do after school I knew that I was going into the woods that surrounded the village but the question was where. I had explored just about every inch of that place (dad doesn't know that either). As I reached my English door (I only wasted 2-3 minutes thanks to the directions from miss Jenson) I decided to explore the cove that was in the heart of the woods. The trees there were very dense and barely anyone ever went there it would be the perfect place to draw and scavenge for interesting _treasure_ that I could use for my inventions "why are you late?" my thoughts were interrupted by a males voice. I glanced up and saw a tall thin man with brown short hair in a white shirt and jacket. He had a stern look on his face that clearly showed that he was displeased with my tardiness. I put on a confident face and walked over to him handing him the note. He took 1 glance at it and told me to sit on the 3rd row second from the right. I used his directions and found who he wanted me to sit next to _Arden Hofferson! _Oh my god why do you hate me? Sitting me next to my crush that's mean, even for you! I went over to him and felt my face heat up I was sure I was blushing. He scooted his chair further away from me and it felt like my heart broke a little bit. He really hated me that much that he would do something that immature as to move his chair 3 inches away from me. I sighed as I dropped down onto the chair. Ordinarily I would be thrilled to sit next to someone but him what would I do? Its not like I can talk to him! I don't know if I got over that hiccupping thing and if I haven't then I'm just going to humiliate myself more in front of him than I already have in the past.

Our teacher reintroduced himself and what we were doing. Since I had missed it the first time his name was Mr Smith and he told us that we were doing stories involving mythical creatures. I have to admit now I like him a lot more than when I first met him seeing as we were doing something I actually knew about. After he finished the introduction he started explaining what we were doing this lesson. I was paying close attention to what he was saying wanting to make my work the best it could be. I felt like I had to prove myself, that he had already formed an opinion of me and that I had to prove him wrong. "hey hiccup" I felt someone nudge my side and turned my head to face him. I raised my eyebrow quizzically "can I have a pen?" I sighed opened my bag and handed him a pink pencil with a small pink fluffy character glued to the top. I wanted to embarrass him a little bit so I gave him the girliest pencil I had "uhh thanks" he took the pencil off me and placed it on the table. Mr Smith had finished explaining and I had an idea of what I wanted to do. He had written on his white board that we could choose between a dragon, a minotaur or a unicorn. Most of the girls in the class smiled when they read unicorn and whispered to their friends about what they were going to have it do. I however smiled when I saw dragon, I was obsessed with them and had read every single book on them in our local library. Arden saw my smile and asked "what kind of unicorn story are you doing?" oh god I'm gonna have another hiccupping fit I just know it, I tried to pretend that I was just talking to my dad but that only made it worse "I'm not doing a unicorn story I'm doing dragons" I told him just after my chest jerked as I held in a hiccup. He seemed surprised he probably thought that I was some girly girl that loved shopping and makeup and stalked boys (he was kinda right with the last one) "I'm impressed you're not like the other girls you're different aren't you?" I didn't know what to say did he want me to say I was or wasn't? I decided to take a chance "I'm not, what are you doing?" I asked trying to divert the conversation away from me as I felt my chest jerk again "dragons too. I'm addicted to them. I've always wished I lived in a place of dragons, I could hunt them, kill them or train them. That's what I'm gonna do my story about training dragon. I'm gonna use a gronckle as a captured dragon that is tortured and maybe-" I let him ramble on about his story it was nice to have him talk to me for once without it being an insult. He talked for a very long time he told me his entire plot and how he was going to include himself in the story making him the hero and his dragon was going to be a monstrous nightmare "Arden that's really great but we have 15 minutes left and I really need to start my story" I cut him off just as he was telling me about how the dragons killed each other over who was his favourite. He was going into very gory detail and I felt queasy "what? oh yeah sorry got a bit carried away. Its so rare that I meet someone who likes dragons and will listen to me ramble on about them" Arden apologised to me but he really didn't have to, I didn't mind listening to him talk I honestly did enjoy him talking to me "its ok, I just want to do a bit of my story" I glanced at his paper and saw nothing but his name "you should probably do a bit too" I saw embarrassment flash across his face but it was quickly gone as he nodded and turned to his paper he started writing soon after and I saw that he was setting it in Berk.

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	3. Chapter 3

After the final bell rang I decided that I didn't want to walk home and walked over to the bus section of the car park I went to the first bus and saw Gobber sitting there with the same smile plastered on his face like always (Gobber used to drive me to my primary but after I left so did he) if you didn't know him you would think he would be depressed. He had an accident a few years ago and lost his right hand and left leg. Gobber was quite poor and couldn't afford to have real prosthetics attached so he had made his own. His leg was a stump like the kind you would expect a pirate to have and his hand was interchangeable. "afternoon Gobber do you think you could give me a lift home I'm too tired to walk?" I asked him walking up the steps and to his little cab. I already knew the answer but it was polite to ask "course now go to your seat I kept it free just incase" Gobber smirked at me as I headed off to my seat, I had a single seat behind his cab we christened it mine after about a year.

I was the last one Gobber dropped off and as he was about to drive off I stopped him when saw my dads car parked in front of the house. I knew that if Gobber weren't here then my dad would be constantly with me and I wouldn't get a chance to go exploring "Gobber, my dads home want to come in and talk with him? I know you two haven't had a chance to speak in a while" I knew that Gobber wouldn't be able to refuse my offer seeing as he and my dad were best friends and had been since they were 7. "are you kiddin' me? course I want to come in" Gobber couldn't have ran out of the bus quicker. He ran out so quick that he actually forgot to turn it off. Luckily it was a usual occurrence and I knew how to park and turn it off. I walked into my house and silently headed upstairs to grab my sketch book. On my way back down the stairs my dad spotted me and ushered me into the kitchen the exact opposite way I wanted to go "where are you going young lady?" I hate it when he says that "I'm going to the library to do my home work, I'll talk to you later after Gobber's gone home cos I know that you wont be listening you never listen when he's here" he stared at me and Gobber started laughing it was rare that Stoic didn't know what to say. I turned from them and walked out of the house and started towards the woods it would take about 5 minutes to get to the woods and another 10 to get into the dense part.

Whilst I was making my way thought the thick trees I collided with a solid object and dropped to the ground with a thud. I shook my head and looked up to see what I had walked into and what I saw couldn't have been more of a shock "_Arden!_" he grinned at me "hiccup what you doing here" "I could ask you the same thing" I retorted "exploring" he told me casually "same" I answered his earlier question standing up and dusting off the dirt from my trousers "where are you going?" he asked "deep in the woods where the cove is" his smiled and was about to ask why but he spoke before I could "me too" he must have seen my questioning expression because he answered me before I could ask "I was wandering around there yesterday and I heard this huge crash and a cloud of dust came up I tried to see what it was but the tree branches made it impossible for me. So I went home to get a penknife but as I was going back out my mum came home and I had to stay in. The only reason I'm here now is because she's working a double shift" he acted out the entire scene he was describing, it was amusing and I had to stifle a laugh from all his facial expressions "mind if I go with you?" I asked feeling my face heat slightly he nodded and started walking off. After he took about 15 steps I followed him keeping what I assumed to be a safe distance I didn't want anyone who may have been walking here to see us together they might get the wrong idea I didn't mind that but I was sure he would.

We were battling against the thick overgrowth of branches for a long time. When we finally made it through the sun had started setting it would only be in the sky for maybe 15-20 minutes more. "well that was a lot of work lets hope it wasn't for nothing." Arden joked sliding down a little slope to get to an entrance someone had carved into the wall of the cove. It almost looked like he had been here before "you coming?" his voice snapped me out of my thoughts and I slid down being careful not to embarrass myself in front of him. He clasped his hands together "lets go I've been waiting all day for this" he took off into the opening and I had to run to keep up with him. He had stopped at the edge of an over hang and was staring at something shock and panic engraved on his face. I stepped up next to him and looked at him questioningly, he outstretched his hand pointing to something on the opposite side of the cove. I followed his gaze and saw a black reptile like creature with wings, bound in ropes with weights attached to the ends. There was blood splattered behind it and the only word I could vocalise was _"Dragon!"_

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	4. Chapter 4

Oh my god I'm gonna pass out. I stared at Arden he stared at me an I knew that I was asking the question we were both thinking "you see that right?" he nodded slowly he was still in shock and so was I. "can we run?" I asked he shook his head "no, I've wanted to see one of those all my life and I'm not going to run now. I'm going to get up close and personal with it I'm going to see what it really looks like" Arden grabbed the side of the over hang and dropped down sliding down on the rough rocky wall. He stood up once he reached the bottom and headed over to the bound creature. As much as I hate to admit it I was also curious about the creature and I couldn't just stand there and watch I had to see as well. I slid down after him and ran to catch up. He had stopped in front of the beast and was staring at it in awe "its incredible isn't it?" Arden stared at me as I approached him "yea it really is I never thought they actually existed" he nodded his head showing he thought the same thing "is it just me or does it look scared" I asked Arden looked at me then back at the dragon he nodded his head again and took out his penknife the dragons eyes widened and it turned its head away from us he must think that Arden was going to kill him but I knew he wouldn't he said that he always wanted to see one and you wouldn't kill what you always wanted, would you? He knelt down beside it and grabbed a rope he stuck his knife behind the rope and pulled snapping it and loosening it from the dragons feet he then grabbed another doing the same thing he continued doing this till the ropes were loose enough for it to get away. Once enough ropes were cut the dragon sprang off the floor landing on me and Arden he pinned us to the ground and took in a deep breath. This is how I'm going to die being burnt to a crisp next to the guy I have an insane crush on. The dragons head snapped back to us and I shut my eyes as tight as I could preparing for the inevitable to happen. The dragons feet lifted from us and it let out an ear piecing scream I brought me hands up trying to block out as much of the noise as I could and opened my eyes a fraction just in time to see it take off leaving us laying on the ground feeling very confused "well that's gratitude for you" I joked trying to get a response from him he smirked and I felt my face heat up. He seemed to miss the slight tinge of pink on my face since all he did was push himself up and help me "you ok?" I nodded and turned trying to find somewhere to get out before that dragon came back and decided to finish us off. I spotted a small hole near to where the dragon had run off to there was a rock near the hole that I feared the dragon may be hiding behind but it was our only way out seeing as we couldn't climb out. I motioned for him to follow me and headed of towards the hole "where are you going" he whispered after me I had no idea why he was whispering maybe he was afraid the dragon would hear. I didn't answer his question and continued walking. Reluctantly he followed after me not wanting to be left alone he grabbed my arm once he caught up with me and it looked as if he was going to hiss something at me but once he herd a growl come from nowhere he stopped himself and ran out of the cove dragging me along with him.

We were running for a good 5 minutes straight through the path we had cut for ourselves "can we please stop I'm gonna faint." I panted out struggling to keep up with him I was never any good at sports. He stopped though he didn't look very pleased with it "take a few minutes then we keep running I'm not gonna let either of us become dragon food" his tone was aggravated but I had to stop my lungs were bursting. I took in some deep breaths and nodded signalling that we could continue he didn't hesitate and resumed with the dragging. Once he felt we were far enough away from the dragon he stopped and I collapsed onto the ground personally I felt like we could have stopped a while ago but to him obviously my opinion meant nothing "you ok?" he asked he seemed genuinely concerned that I had collapsed "yea if you don't count the fact that I'm in agony from the worlds worst stitch" I replied sarcastically of course I'm not ok. He slumped down next to me and I felt a blush cover my cheeks, I mentally cursed myself for being so stupid, "well looks like were gonna have to chose something else for English." Arden joked he was trying to lighted the mood. I smiled at him and stared at my hands I still felt very uncomfortable around him he seemed to pick up on it and moved closer to me, seems like dragons make people change there opinions, it seems like he thinks I'm still worried the dragon will attack again "lets go home I'll walk you." he offered standing I nodded standing next to him and brushing the dirt off my uniform, looks like I'm going to have to wash it tonight, we started walking to my house and I was slightly nervous incase my dad saw me with him although we don't have the best relationship he was still overprotective and I didn't want him having a go at him for no reason.

Thankfully Gobber was still there so my dad was to preoccupied to notice 2 voices at the door instead of silence. "welcome back Sarah how was the library did you complete your homework?" dad asked glancing away from Gobber for a split second. My mind went blank I had completely forgotten that was what I told him so I just nodded, I seem to be doing a lot of that today my heads starting to get tired, he gave me a small smile and submerged himself back in his conversation with Gobber. As soon as there conversation restarted I headed upstairs pulling my sketch pad out off the inside pocket of my jumper it was slightly bent from the dragon standing on it but it was still intact, I ran to the small desk I had in my room flipping to a new page and started to sketch the dragon while the image was still fresh in my head. After I finished the sketch I closed my book and placed it in between as pile of my study books, I knew dad wouldn't look at it but I was a paranoid person, standing I walked to my bed and set my alarm I looked at the time it was only quarter to 5 and I knew I would be up all night but I was so drained of energy all I could think about was sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Arden's POV 

I thought I would pass out when I got home lucky for me I managed to stay conscious which gave me the chance to sort through my thoughts they were all so muddled up from the amount of fear that I had endured that I couldn't be sure of any specifics the only thing I was sure about was that I felt a strong protectiveness over Sarah, did I just call her Sarah that's weird I never call her by her real name, like I wanted to get her away even if I couldn't. Shaking my head I trudged upstairs laying on my bed and involuntarily thinking about Sarah, I thought about how shy and how modest she was like she had known idea how beautiful she was I pictured her in my head every small detail from her freckles and shoulder length brown hair to the slight tinge of pink that coated her cheeks every time I looked at her, I fell asleep thinking about her and had one of the best sleeps I had had in a long time.

I was woken up shortly after 7 by my mum "hi mum" I groaned "why were you asleep?" my mum asked simply "busy day" I answered "fine. But come down and get something to eat" I pushed myself up and followed my mum down stairs. She had ordered a pizza like she always did when she worked a double shift that was one of the reasons why I loved her working late the main one was that I could do whatever I wanted but the pizza was a close second. I dropped onto one of the dinner chairs grabbing a piece of pizza before I was even on the chair it was pepperoni my favourite. "so what happened to make today so busy?" mum asked cocking her eyebrow "nothing that important just a lot." I answered gazing at my pizza avoiding the question as best I could my mum was relentless when it comes to difficult questions she was very persistent, I looked up and immediately recognised the look in her eyes she thought it was a girl she was going to ask the worst question imaginable for an 11 year old before I could stop her she asked "who's the girl?" now most people wouldn't find this the worst question but trust me with my mum it was she couldn't keep a secret to save her life, so yet again I tried to avoid the question "I don't know what you're talking about." mum stared at me a questioning look crossed her face than it looked like a light had gone off "it wouldn't happen to be this hiccup girl now would it?" I involuntarily blushed and I honestly have no idea why. My mum smirked victoriously an 'I knew it' look plastered all over her face "no it's not her." I answered my voice wavering a bit "oh really then why are you blushing?" I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. I grabbed my plate and walked upstairs. Before I closed my door I yelled back to her "I'm not blushing!" I heard her laughing and slammed my door.

Hiccups POV

When I woke up it was only 11 o'clock and instead of going back to sleep I decided to find out what kind of dragon me and Arden saw I pulled my laptop out from under my bed (my dad hated me going on things when he couldn't watch over my shoulder kind of makes you wonder why he bought it for me in the first place) once I logged on I went onto Google and typed in dragons a page came up straight away and said 'Dragon classifications' I clicked on it and some links came up 'strike class' 'fear class' 'mystery class' at the bottom of the page it said 'all' I clicked on that and the first dragon came up its name was 'thunder drum'. A picture came up of it as well it had a short body with 4 wings 2 big main wings on its body and 2 smaller ones on the base of its tail. It also had spikes running down its tail all the way to the tip. The dragon had a huge mouth that seemed to be never ending from the picture you couldn't tell were the head ends and the body begins. A little caption was placed underneath it read 'this reclusive dragon inhabits sea caves and dark tide pools. When startled the thunder drum produces a concussive sound that can kill a man at close range, extremely dangerous kill on sight.' "Not our dragon onto the next one" I mumbled clicking the next page. 'Timber jack' a picture came up again and the dragon looked huge its wings were spread out and at the edge of each what I presumed to be bones running through the wings were spikes. Its head was held high with pointed horns sticking out of the sides but they pointing back to make it more streamline, the dragons tail had spikes on them like the last one and there was another caption below 'this gigantic creature has razor sharp wings that can slice through full grown trees, extremely dangerous kill on sight.' "I wonder if 'extremely dangerous kill on sight' will become a bit of a theme." The next few pages weren't much help either after the timber jack there was the scaldren which sprayed scalding water at its victims and again was extremely dangerous kill on sight after that there was the changeling which sprayed acid and was kill on sight. After that I flicked through the pages quicker wanting to find our dragon and not learn about them. Even though I flicked through the pages the names still caught my attention 'gronckle' 'jippleback' the scrill' 'bone napper' 'whispering death' I ignored the names and looked at the info after that (kind of wished I hadn't though) 'burns its victims' 'buries its victims' 'chokes its victims' 'turns its victims inside out' "err." 'extremely dangerous' 'extremely dangerous' 'kill on sight' 'kill on sight' 'kill on sight'. I finally got to the last page there was no picture and the name said "night fury. Speed: unknown. Size: unknown the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Never engage this dragon. Your only chance hide and prey it does not find you" I think I found our dragon. I printed this page to our downstairs printer knowing that I had to show Arden tomorrow. I creeped downstairs hoping my dad would be asleep he had an early meeting tomorrow and I didn't think he would stay up too late. I was right he was asleep and he left me something to eat (nice of him I'm surprised he even noticed I was here he's usually oblivious when Gobber's here). I put the food in the microwave and went to the printer to retrieve the page. "This really needs a picture or a description to be sure it's our dragon." I thought aloud. The microwave beeped and I got my dinner/supper and went back upstairs to eat so I could do some more research.

It was 12:30 and I was still doing research so far all I found was a short description that some Vikings gave and all that said was 'the beast had cat like eyes that could pierce your soul and a screech that split the air' that was it an hour and a half of research at that was it. "I'm looking at this last one then I'm going back to bed." I sighed getting a little agitated with my lack of success. The last one was from a Viking that lived here on Berk there wasn't a name apparently when the village found out what this boy had done they banished him from the village and his father disowned him the entire article was 'his eyes are green and his body is a slick black his wings are wide but thin when he's mad his teeth are out his eyes go into slits and he hisses but when he's content he retracts his teeth his eyes become orbs and he purrs, when you go near him with a weapon he becomes hostile and will attack you' that was all he said and it says at the bottom that he was forced to make his statement by the threat of killing the dragon "bit harsh if you ask me but at least I know the dragon we saw was a night fury." I quickly scribbled down the statement the boy gave on the back of the sheet folded it and put it under my bed with my laptop. "If I can get just a couple more hours sleep I'll be happy" I mumbled settling back down in my bed pulling my covers to the bottom of my chin.

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	6. Chapter 6

When my alarm went off I was grateful that I remembered to set it if I hadn't my dad would have woke me and would have seen my laptop (I hadn't pushed it under my bed enough and it was sticking out a lot) I took the sheet off the top and laid it on my bed while I got dressed. Before I ran downstairs I pushed my laptop under my bed fully once I did that I ran downstairs holding the folded sheet "morning dad" I greeted him "you're happy today" he commented "yea I had a good day yesterday and I'm looking forwards to my lessons today." (I had 3 lessons with Arden today, I'd checked his planner while we were in English) I grabbed my bag and placed my folded sheet in with my schedule. "Dad have you seen my PE kit?" I asked before I sat opposite him placing my bag next to me. He shook his head "no why'd you need it?" I sighed really he couldn't tell from 'PE' "I have PE today." I told him my tone clearly showing that I was irritated. "Try the dryer I might have put it in there last night." I sighed yet again and went to check the dryer and sure enough they were there. Stuffing my kit in my bag being careful not to crumple my schedule and dragon sheet not after all the trouble I went through last night finding that info. After I did that I went next to my dad and took his drink and had a big gulp from it. He always had coffee in the morning and after my late night hunting on the internet I really needed it. "I got to go. Bye" I waved to him before darting from the house.

I made it to school a few minutes early and ran to my form room. I may have made a bad first impression but I was determined to make a better second one. I saw Miss Jensen standing in the front and talking to some kid she seemed to be quite mad and I had no idea why she was mad but whoever had annoyed her seemed to be handling it well. She had short brown hair that ended just after her ears, was chubby and when she turned I saw she had a stub nose. When I saw her nose and round face I recognised her as Sally Lout she had bullied me in primary for years and was the first to call me Hiccup. Sally loved making me miserable I think it was her favourite thing about school seeing as she rarely went a day without making me cry (I never cried around her I would run away and cry somewhere private.) I don't remember seeing her yesterday which was another reason (apart from spending 1-1 time with Arden) why yesterday was the best day of school ever. I took a deep breath and pushed the door open Sally turned fully and saw me standing by the door. She sent me a glare which was normal for her and turned her attention back to Miss Jensen "look I'm sorry alright can we just forget this and I promise I won't do it again." Sally faked an apology bowing her head slightly to make it seem like she was sincere Miss Jensen smiled slightly and nodded. Sally walked away from her and started making her way to her chair she sent glare after glare towards me that made me wonder what I had done to upset her so much. "Morning Miss." I greeted her walking to the empty front desk that connected onto her desk placing my bag on the desk I sat down "good morning Sarah." We talked for the remainder of form and when the bell rang I checked my schedule and I had English first again.

When I got to English I found Arden was already there and was talking to Sally. I wasn't surprised by this because Sally had a huge crush on Arden almost as big as mine and was always hanging onto him rarely leaving him alone that's another reason why I loved yesterday. As I got closer to them I heard what they were talking about or to be more specific what she was taking to him about "so I moved into my parents basement and we have this gym down there you could come by some time to work out… you look like you work out." She rambled on slipping in small compliments at the end. Arden's eyes drifted from hers to mine as I approached them. When Sally noticed he wasn't listening to her anymore she turned around to yell at whoever had caused this when she saw I was standing behind her she scowled "what do you want freak can't you see we're talking here get lost." She told me. Any other day I would have but she was in my seat so she was the one who should 'get lost'. "I can't you're in my seat." I pointed out trying not to seem intimidated "do I look like I care go sit on your own like a good little freak and leave me and Arden alone can't you see that he would much rather sit and talk to me than with the-". She started having a go at me but before she could finish Arden stopped her by saying "Sally go sit with Jess let Sa- Hiccup sit down." Sally stared at him bewildered but stood and walked over to Jess (better known as Ruffnut) "thanks" I mumbled before I sat next to him "I should be thanking you I was about to go insane she would not stop talking I couldn't got a word in." he complained I nodded in understanding and reached into my bag that was next to me so I could retrieve my research on the dragon. "I found this last night about that dragon." I told him after I found my paper I laid it in front of him and told him to read. I followed his eyes as he read and he seemed to understand what I was showing him he turned the paper over and read the paragraph the boy gave about this dragon. "This sounds like our dragon and I bet you're thinking it's this night fury aren't you" I nodded at him "I know it is. This boy knew something about this dragon and it even says his dad disowned him and that he was forced to make his statement. He knew something." I explained pointing to the main parts of the paragraph to emphasise my point "I know. So what do you want to do cos I want to go see that night fury again?" "I do too so do you want to go after school or later?" I asked taking the paper from him and placing it back in my bag "how about lunch we can get back here before the end of school so we won't miss the bus." He offered I didn't know what to say I knew it was wrong to skip school but I was skipping it with him so I answered using logic "yea leaving at lunch sounds good as long as we're back before the day ends. I don't catch the bus that often but I do need to be home on time." He nodded and was about to continue talking when our teacher and a man in a suit came in the classroom. We all stopped talking and looked forwards "class this is Mr Dawson he is here to find out what's been happening with all the animals and people that have gone missing." "Hello everyone I'm sure you're all eager to discover what's been going on so if you know anything me and my team would really appreciate the help" he monotone "also if any of you have any questions on what's happened we will tell you all we know" he continued talking and most people asked questions but we didn't, we already had an idea of what was happening and didn't want to hear their perception.

I couldn't focus on the rest of my lessons until lunch. I was feeling guilty about skipping I had never skipped a day in my life and I didn't know what to do or to say to my dad if he found out. I was getting changed after PE (we had done running and rather predictably I came last) when I heard Sally talking to Ruffnut "Hiccup didn't do anything she walked that track I swear I'm gonna give her something to cry to her daddy about later." Sally ranted "I know and I saw her kick you away from Arden earlier in English I mean who the hall does she think she is? She doesn't stand a chance with him but you, you two are meant to be." Ruffnut ranted back. I stayed hidden in the changing cubical till the bell for lunch rang but even then I stayed in there till everyone had left. When I finally did leave I found Arden was waiting for me "took you long enough." He commented as we walked over to the door that lead out to the field which we would have to cross in order to get into the woods. "Yea, sorry I was getting changed took longer than I expected I had to be careful that I didn't drop my paper on the floor you never know it could be useful later." I explained he seemed to buy my excuse and we continued walking. As we walked across the field I was so paranoid that someone would see me that I was constantly looking over my shoulder I saw Sally on the field with Ruffnut and her brother Tuffnut (nicknames were popular in our school Sally had one but only used it when she was around her friends. Her nickname was Snotlout nobody knows how she got it but if you called her by it and weren't her friend you would most likely end up in a cast) I was sure they spotted me with Arden and almost turned back and ran inside but was stopped by Arden taking my hand and pulling me through the gate that blocked our school from the woods. "Not going to bail out on me are you?" I could feel myself blush and quickly shuck my head he smiled and started leading me through the woods.


	7. Chapter 7

**sorry it took so long to post hopefully a longer chapter makes up for it.**

We had been walking for 5 minutes and I knew there was no going back now. I had skipped school with my crush and right now I didn't care what my dad thought I only cared about being with Arden. I heard some rustling behind me and stopped. Arden appeared to have not heard it and continued walking jolting me and pulling his arm back he turned to see what was wrong

"I heard something" I muttered weakly.

He sighed and asked where. I pointed in the direction of the sound and we walked over to it there was a large group of people there and they had baskets of fish with them. I whispered to Arden "what do you think they're doing cos it looks like they're searching for something?"

He looked at all of them and answered "you think they're looking for that thing that's been taking people?" I thought about it and it seemed plausible

"Yea probably but why have fish? If it's some kind of mountain cat like they said wouldn't they have brought raw meat?" he nodded his head

"Maybe they're looking for the dragon" I was sceptical why would they be looking for the dragon but I decided to humour him

"Ok say they're looking for the dragon why use fish?" he thought for a moment before he answered

"Perhaps dragons eat fish which is why no one before us and possibly them knew they existed because they were always at sea instead of on land." that actually made sense I nodded

"If dragons really do eat fish do you think we should take some to ours you know try and make friends" I asked slightly fearful that he would laugh but he took my answer very seriously and crept forwards to the nearest basket and grabbed 2 fish then ran silently back to me. He handed one to me and started pulling me towards the dense part of the woods

"Come on we have to hurry" he whispered after he looked at his watch and dragging me faster.

I was getting more and more nervous the closer to the cove we got. I started panicking that people at school would notice we weren't there and I was also panicking that the dragon would have the fish as an appetiser and us as the main course.

"Hiccup we're here, snap out of your little daydream." Arden whispered jerking my arm

"I wasn't day dreaming I was just so consumed with panicking that I wasn't talking." I whispered back fearful that the dragon would hear us. We didn't know how good its hearing was and I didn't want to tempt it by being too loud. "Come on" I pulled him this time being as quiet as humanly possible. We crept into the cove through the small hole we'd escaped through yesterday. As we took a couple of steps further into the cove I felt a shiver run through my spine and had the oddest feeling that we were being watched. I froze when I heard a low growl coming from nowhere. I turned my head and saw that Arden had heard it as well. I squeezed his hand tighter finding some sense of security in his tightly clenched fingers.

When I turned my head to look forwards again I saw a black shape jump out from behind the rock that stood close to the hole in the cove wall. I couldn't help the gasp that escaped from my lips and I felt Arden tense when the dragon leapt in front of us. It appeared to be sniffing like it could smell something so I tugged Arden forwards indicating that I wanted him to show the dragon the fish. Hesitantly he held the fish out the dragon crept forwards obviously wary of us. He opened his mouth and I could have sworn that I didn't see any teeth. He was about to take the fish from Arden's hand when he stopped and backed off preparing to attack. Arden quickly brought his hand back and snatched his other from my grip. He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a red penknife still shut but as soon as the dragon saw it he backed off and growled. He dropped the penknife on the floor trying to show the dragon that he wasn't a threat. Not convinced the dragon motioned with its head towards the lake only a few feet away from us. Arden picked the knife up with the top of his foot and tossed it into the lake causing a slight splash. This had a drastic impact on the dragon who immediately dropped his defensive stance and sat down like a dog. Being extremely cautiously Arden extended his hands showing the dragon the fish that was now lying across them.

The dragon started creeping forwards again opening its mouth wide. Arden noticed what I had earlier and questioned

"Toothless? I could have sworn you had-" before he could finish his sentence the dragons teeth shot out snatching the fish from his hands. He barely had enough time to retract his hands a second later he would have become the new Gobber "-teeth" he finished. The dragon threw its head back and swallowed the fish in two. Once he finished he stared at us and I threw my fish towards him not wanting the dragon to snatch it from me along with my hands (I had awful reflexes) again the dragon swallowed it in two. Once it finished it looked at both of us and started advancing on us. We in turn started moving back.

"Ah. No, no, no, no. we don't have anymore" as we continued moving back we fell over. Seeing as we couldn't see behind us, even though we were on the ground, we didn't stop moving back that is until we hit a large rock. Arden started panicking while I pushed myself as close to the rock as I could bringing my knees towards my chest before the dragons face was in ours. He squinted his eyes and I heard a strange noise almost like he was going to be sick. His stomach started moving he opened his mouth and two tail ends of a fish came out landing in our laps

"eww" I muttered feeling the spit on the fish tail dampen my trousers. The dragon pushed himself up and sat on his hind legs staring at us intensely. I felt really awkward being there under his intense gaze. I shifted nervously and glanced over at Arden being sure not to turn my head too much. I saw that he was as nervous as I was. I looked back at the dragon; he tilted his head towards the fish tail and up to our faces. I followed his eyes and understood what he wanted us to do sighing I nudged Arden's side so he looked at me. I picked up the fish and raised it up to my face. He copied and I brought it to my mouth opening it and taking a huge bite out of the fish scales and all. He looked at me in horror as I looked back at the dragon and smiled

"mmm" I told him. Once Arden recovered from his shock he copied me taking a bite from his fish admittedly a smaller one but still a bite. He shivered from the horrid taste of raw spit covered fish but nodded his head at the dragon faking that he liked it. The dragon swallowed implying that he wanted to finish it my shoulders sagged as I sighed again. Swallowing the fish I gagged and was almost sick I covered my mouth and forced the fish down. Once it had settled and I was sure I wasn't going to be sick I glared at Arden who still had the fish in his mouth. He swallowed his fish and gagged like I had.

We both turned back to the dragon, who licked his lips. Arden gave him a quick smile while I gave him a toothy smile; the dragon squinted his eyes and started opening his mouth at the sides revealing his gums. He continued doing whatever he was doing and after a few seconds of concentration he finished and I realised he was smiling a very gummy smile. My smile dropped and I couldn't help but reach out and try and touch him. The dragon quickly realised what I was doing and his teeth shot out. He growled and took off to the other side of the lake.

"Nice going" Arden commented dryly

"Shut up. Don't tell me that you've never wanted to touch him" I retorted standing up brushing the spit and scales that had come off the fish onto the floor

"Ok so maybe I have but I'm not stupid enough to actually do it." He retorted back. Ignoring him I started walking over to the other side of the lake "where are you going?" he asked running over to me. I stopped and looked at him.

"I'm going over to that dragon and I'm not leaving till I can touch him" I stated and continued over to the other side of the lake. While I was walking over I saw the dragon burning a patch in the ground, he patted down the burnt grass and curled up on it. He looked up at a tree close to him and saw a bird in its nest fly off. He watched the bird and I saw jealously in his eyes. When he took his gaze off the small bird his eyes landed on me. While he was distracted I had sat down near him, he looked annoyed and covered his face with his half tail. I inched my way towards him using my hands to move myself so I made as little noise as possible. Apparently what little sound I had made was enough to let him know what I was up to. He lifted his tail and glared at me. As soon as he raised his tail I turned on my heels and quickly walked away with that fake casual walk people have when they are nervous.

The dragon stood up even after I had walked back and went over to the tree that bird had flown from. He scrambled up it using his claws to try and make footholds. Once he had reached a thick branch that looked like it could hold his weight he dangled himself from his tail covering himself with his wings. He looked rather unsurprisingly like a bat. I looked over at Arden who was giving me thumbs up

"Smooth I'm sure you're close to touching him." His voice was coated with sarcasm

"If you're not going to help then you can either shut up or go home, either way I'm not bothered." I shouted back to him being careful not to yell too loudly I didn't want to become this things new chew toy. I saw Arden pout and sit back down resting his back against the rock we had been cowering against not 5 minutes ago.

I thought for about 3-4 minutes before I figured out what I wanted to do. I searched the ground and found a long straight stick with a flat end "this will work perfectly" I whispered to myself walking over to a small rock. I sat down and started dragging the stick through the earth. I could feel eyes on me while I was drawing and I didn't know if it was Arden or the dragon. I hoped it was the dragon or my plan would never work. I heard a sound which reminded me of my nans cat I resisted the urge to turn and kept my eyes locked on my drawing. I could see the dragon's silhouette cover my drawing in shadows thanks to the setting sun but I refused to let my eyes drift from my picture. I finished the drawing by dotting his eyes. I gazed at my drawing with pride; I think I got him right.

I heard footsteps trail away from me they paused for a second and then I heard a cracking sound. I turned and saw the dragon pulling the tree branch he had been resting on across the ground creating a pattern. I looked over at Arden and saw how surprised he was that the dragon had copied me. I took my eyes from him and looked back to the dragon. I saw him spin around and he smacked me on the head with the leaves on the tree branch. He dragged the branch in front of me, stopped turned to me then dotted the ground before setting off again dragging and curving round the earth. When he stopped a second time he dropped the branch next to him making sure to miss his lines he nodded his head in approval. I stood and stared at what he had done in awe I started walking forwards still looking around when I heard a growl I flinched and froze turning to face the dragon I saw him staring at my feet I followed his gaze and saw I was standing on one of his lines I lifted my foot and he started purring

"Interesting, wonder if it'll work a second time?" I muttered to myself lowering my foot so the toes of my shoe touched his line. Sure enough he growled again I repeated it a couple more times enjoying the contrast in his personality, "Ok enough of that one more time and I think he'll kill me" I shook my head and stepped into a small misshapen circle between 2 lines. His purring grew louder and he looked surprised. I continued stepping through the lines carefully avoiding them. I stopped when I felt an intense gaze on me I cautiously turned around and saw the dragon staring at me. I was about to step away but my foot hovered over a line if I stood on one this close to him I was dead for sure so instead I placed my foot back with my other one. I was that close to him that a thought crossed my mind that if I reached out and touched him I'd have at least a second before he ripped me to pieces. I hesitantly reached out my hand going towards his snout. He growled causing me to flinch and pull my hand back. I closed my eyes intimidated by his intense stare and turned my head away from him. Maybe if I reached out to him with my head turned from him he won't see me as any kind of threat. I reached out again and he growled I flinched but didn't pull my hand back (his growl seemed softer than before so I felt that he wouldn't attack me) instead I stopped "come on trust me." I pleaded under my breath. My breath caught in my throat when I felt a pressure on my hand a scaly smooth pressure. I opened my eyes a fraction and saw the dragon with his eyes closed, snout pressed against my hand. I gasped slightly causing him to pull his face away from my hand his eyes were big orbs. He shook his head his eyes turning into slits and glided off to a corner of the cove shrouded in shadows. I smiled pleased with myself. I had done it and was still in one piece

"Ok I have to admit I didn't expect you to pull it off but you did congratulations." I span around shocked by the sudden sound. Arden was standing next to me smiling a lot of that was happening today.

"And you said it was stupid. Come on we need to get home."

"Why it's only-" he took out his phone and his face showed pure shock "-4. How's it 4? We left at 25 past 12!" I stared at him my eyes were wide. He grabbed my hand and started running towards the hole in the wall

"How's it 4? You said we'd be back before the end of school my dad's gonna freak, he already hates me going to normal school." I told him as we got through the hole and started running through the woods.


	8. Chapter 8

**sorry it's been forever since I updated my laptop wouldn't let me add a new chapter**

"Come on we have to hurry! Your dads not the only one who'll freak my mum's gonna ground me forever" Arden yelled at me pulling me closer so I was running next to him. We ran as fast as we could swerving around trees till we got to the edge of the woods. He took out his phone to see what time it was I looked across and saw it was quarter past 4

"We should run more often maybe then we wouldn't be so late" I panted out bent over trying to get rid of my stitch.

"From the state you're in I say we don't and just leave earlier or just wait till after school" I nodded and walked cautiously towards the edge of the trees. I saw Gobber walking towards us

"Have you seen hiccup?" he asked someone walking past. I couldn't see who because they were facing away from us. The person shook their head and continued to wherever they were going "oh god her father's going to kill me I promised I wouldn't lose her I'm just glad he's working late"

Arden looked at me "what?"

"Gobber knows your dad?"

"Yeah they're best friends." He stared at me dumbfounded "you should see them at mine they're like 2 teenage girls gossiping" he laughed slightly and of course Gobber heard him. He turned to us and asked

"Hiccup what are you doing there…is that Arden?" he walked over to us and there was no running away cause he had seen us. So we walked over to him our heads down

"Hey Gobber" I greeted quietly

"Hey" Arden greeted just as quietly

"What are you 2 doing here? Do you know how worried the school has been not to mention me I had to beg them not to call the police" he yelled harshly

"We're sorry Gobber we didn't mean to be out that long we just kinda lost track of time" I muttered apologetically

"Well that's no excuse for skipping school I expected better from you Hiccup" I looked down again feeling ashamed I looked up quickly though and took Gobber's arm leading him away from Arden.

"Gobber please don't tell my dad about this and please, please don't be mad I've told you countless times how much I like him and he asked me to come with him. You can't blame me for leaving with him" I begged whispering so Arden didn't hear us he sighed

"This won't happen again?" I shook my head quickly "ok I won't tell him but if this happens again I will tell your dad everything"

"Fair enough thanks Gobber" I hugged him in thanks and he hugged me straight back. There was a bit of a height difference so I did have to stand on my toes. I let go and walked over to Arden

"He won't tell anyone" I assured him he smiled in relief

"Thanks hiccup, I'll see you later ok I got to go before my mum has a fit" he waved as he ran off I waved back and walked back over

"We going home then?" he nodded and we walked off back towards my house.

Gobber left me alone once we got to my house saying I needed to think about what I had done. Like that would help I was well aware of everything I had done today and the only thing I could think about was that dragon. I wanted to name it I had called it dragon a lot and that seemed very impersonal

"Sooty?" I questioned then shook my head that just seemed ridiculous. I stood from the kitchen table and ran upstairs I ran into my room and took my sketch book from in between my study books. I flipped to the page I had drawn the dragon on and tried to think of its name from the picture and what I knew about it… this is harder than I thought. What about toothy it could work or toothless ether way it has to be about its teeth seeing as it's the most noticeable thing about it.

"If I had Arden's number then I could ask him oh well I'll ask him tomorrow in science" (we had that together as well) I laid down on my bed and groaned I had science today after lunch which means that I missed it and will have to sit either on my own or with someone I hate. I closed my eyes and sighed trying to relax I had a tendency to overreact and panic. My stomach growled less than 30 seconds after I closed my eyes and I was forced to get up. I stomped downstairs very annoyed that I couldn't relax. I felt I deserved it after all I had to eat raw fish earlier to satisfy a very strange dragon. I opened the fridge and saw that there was hardly any food

"Oh great I'm gonna have to go shopping" I muttered I hated shopping never understood why girls liked it so much. It was just wandering round looking at stuff that was too expensive to buy and even if you could buy it you had nowhere you could wear it. Then again I could be being cynical because most girls don't have to go shopping for a grumpy old man. My stomach jerked and I felt like I was going to be sick "oh please tell me I haven't got food poisoning from that disgusting fish" I quietly begged breathing deep trying to calm my upset stomach. Didn't work I ended up running up the stairs and I barely made it to the toilet before I was sick, I threw up the contents of my stomach.

I was leaning over the toilet for a few minutes preying that I was done being sick but every time I went to stand I felt my stomach turn and I had to drop back down on my knees to prevent myself from being sick on the tiled floor.

"Sarah are you home?" my dad's voice rang through the house. I wiped my mouth to make sure I had gotten all the sick off my face and called back

"I'm up here dad in the bathroom!"

"What are you doing in there? No wait forget I said anything I don't want to know" he called up to me making me sigh in annoyance. I've said it before that we don't have a great relationship but when you feel awful you need your dad.

"Dad can you come up I've just been sick" I heard him running up the stairs and he burst into the room he walked over to me and crouched down rubbing my back

"What've you eaten today?" he asked

"Not much just a sandwich." I lied well it's not like I could tell him I ate raw fish.

"Maybe you have a stomach bug. You should stay home tomorrow." Any other day I would have been thrilled to stay home but I really wanted to go to school tomorrow for two reasons. 1 I wanted to ask Arden what he wanted to call the dragon, 2 I had some of the lessons I missed today tomorrow and I didn't want to be behind because then it would be even harder to catch up later

"No dad I'm sure I just ate something that was off it'll pass I can go tomorrow" I assured him pushing myself up and off my knees them popping as I did. He didn't look convinced but dropped the subject once I promised I'd go straight to bed.

Arden's POV

Hiccup saved us when Gobber came over. I couldn't hear what they were saying since they were whispering and had walked away from me but whatever she said to him worked. When I got home my mum was already there sitting in front of the TV looking very angry I decided not to disturb her and started running up the stairs as silently as I could

"Arden." I froze and walked back down the steps going over to her

"Hi mum sorry I'm late." I apologised

"The school called said you weren't there after lunch along with that Sarah" I cringed at how she said her name and I have no idea why I knew my mum didn't like Sar- I mean hiccup but it wasn't her she didn't like it was her dad. She shouldn't judge her based on her feelings for her dad

"We kinda left early" I admitted but quickly added "but it was my idea not hers so don't be mad at her" my mum nodded but still looked very angry

"Ok I won't drag this out your grounded for 2 weeks" I stared at her shocked. That was a bit harsh wasn't it? I mean a week would be bad enough but I decided not to argue cause I knew it would be worse if I did.

"Ok I think I'll go to bed." I mumbled dragging my feet upstairs annoyed.

While I lay in my bed my stomach started to tighten and I sat up straight having a horrid sour taste in my mouth. I slid out of bed and walked over to the bathroom which luckily was opposite my room. With each step I took I groaned and cursed that dragon in the woods thinking it would have been better if I had just let Hiccup eat the fish and pretended that I had but I couldn't do that to her, I don't know why but I just can't. I dropped down over the toilet and started dry heaving after about 30 seconds of that I finally threw up clutching my stomach with each heave "I wish I never went into the woods that day" I groaned. I was sick a few more times before I felt it was safe to get up. I flushed the toilet and walked back to my room sprawling out on my bed and burying my face in my pillow hoping that Hiccup wasn't going through what I was.

I fell asleep shortly after I laid on my bed and slept through the rest of the day and night "Arden wake up will you? You've got to get ready for school" I felt my mum shake me I swatted her hand away

"No don't wanna" I complained like a 4 year old

"Tough now get up and get some breakfast" I groaned in annoyance all I wanted to do was stay in bed but my mum would never let me. I propped myself up on my hands and dragged myself up and gave my mum a slight glare for making me get up when I felt dreadful. "Don't be like that now get dressed and come down to get some breakfast"

"Not hungry" I told her half stomping out my room and down the stairs.

Hiccup's POV

I didn't have any breakfast fearful that I would be sick again. Thankfully my dad had to go to work early so it wasn't a problem. I left my house half an hour earlier than I should have so I could go to the bus stop and wait for Gobber. When my dad left he would always look after me. I sat down on the kerb placing my bag beside me. I didn't have to wait long for Gobber to arrive. When he pulled up I stood grabbing my bag and walked over to him. He had opened the door and greeted me with a smile that I happily returned. I was glad that he wasn't angry about yesterday anymore I can't stand it when he's angry with me it actually bothers me more than it does with my dad

"Hey Gobber"

"Morning hiccup what's wrong you look awful?"

"Thanks. You really know how to make a girl feel good" I stated my voice full of sarcasm

"Sorry but seriously you don't look well maybe you should go home and get in bed" it was obvious he was concerned I didn't get ill easily and when I did it was usually pretty bad

"I'm fine Gobber just a stomach bug" I assured him going to my seat and laying my bag down on my legs. Once I sat down I interlocked my fingers waiting patiently for Gobber to set off and pick everyone else up.

Arden was the last to be picked up along with Ruff and Tuffnut. They ran on separating as soon as they stepped on the bus. Ruff going over to Sally who hadn't stopped glaring at me since she had been picked up and Tuff going to an empty seat waiting for Arden. He came on last looking just as awful as I did maybe a bit better. I heard him groan to himself as he passed Gobber

"Arden you feeling ok you don't look too good?" Gobber asked. He nodded and kept walking. My eyes followed him as he walked past Tuffnut and over to the single seat opposite mine. What? Why wasn't he sitting with Tuffnut like usual? He sat down and smiled slightly at me. I smiled back but immediately stopped when I felt everyone's eyes on us. I blushed I hated people looking at me

"I take it you feel just as bad as I do?" he asked me not caring that people were looking. I nodded slightly fearful that my voice would crack if I spoke "not surprised and I guess it's my fault we're like this. Sorry" he apologised. I had to answer him I prayed my voice would be ok

"Don't worry about it it's not all your fault" I admitted thankfully my voice was steady. I looked at the people staring at us and saw Sally was glaring at me. Ruff was in front of her grinning evilly I gulped subconsciously preparing myself for the day ahead.

**hope this made up for it please review**


	9. Chapter 9

Form ran by quick and before I knew it the bell for first had rung and I had science with Sally and Arden. Great I know. I walked to the room gripping my bag tighter. I saw Arden leaning against the wall by science talking to Tuff he looked awful. As I got closer to them I could hear them talking. Tuff was going on and on nagging him asking what he was thinking talking to me. That it was bad enough that he had to sit next to me in English but talking to me out of the classroom was just unacceptable. I sighed to myself and walked over to the room acting like I hadn't heard a word. I stood opposite Arden who looked at me with a slight smile. I smiled back but immediately regretted it

"What are you looking at hiccup?" Tuff spat at me "stop flirting with him he is way out of your league" my smile dropped and I looked at the ground

"Why'd you do that I smiled at her?" Arden asked I couldn't believe it was he standing up for me. No he couldn't be I was imagining it

"Fine, fine whatever she still shouldn't be doing it" Tuff mumbled.

"Come in class" the classroom door opened and I saw a bald man in a suit standing tall over us. I suddenly felt very small and was glad I wasn't here yesterday. On second thought no I wasn't I definitely wasn't. Who knew how strict he was I could be caned for all I knew. I looked to my right and saw a line of kids march up and pass me into the room. When Sally passed she stomped on my foot causing me to wince in pain. Arden walked passed me looking like he was going to be sick and I walked slowly behind feeling the exact same way

"Who are you two?" the teacher asked staring down at us

"Um we're in your class." I mumbled not wanting to meet his gaze

"And where were you yesterday?" I was about to answer with a stuttered reply when Sally cut in

"Sir, Arden had to go to the dentist and hiccup left at lunch through the woods" my mouth dropped this was so unfair she was covering for Arden but selling me out

"Ok then Arden, right?" he nodded "you can sit down by Sally. _Hiccup_ see me after class you can sit on the spare table at the back" perfect first impression he already knows me by my dreadful nickname and I'm in trouble. I've never been in trouble I thought cursing Sally for getting Arden out of trouble but not me. I shouldn't be surprised though I knew she pretty much hated the ground I walked on.

I couldn't pay attention during class I kept feeling queasy and when I didn't my mind would drift to Arden and Sally. They could become a couple and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Sure me and Arden met and fed a dragon but Sally was more in his league if that makes any sense. She was miles more popular than I was and he knew her a lot better than he knew me.

"Hiccup pay attention class is almost over and you've had that spaced out look on your face for more than half of it" our teacher (whose name I had discovered was Mr Bennett) yelled from the front of the class. My face heated from embarrassment when everyone looked back at me. Some were laughing and I bent my head trying my best to disguise the red covering my face.

"Sorry sir" I apologised keeping my head down

"That's ok now pay attention…" the bell rang as he finished his sentence "you're dismissed" he sighed and we all silently left the room

"Hiccup come here please" Mr Bennett stopped me. I turned and walked over to him

"Yes sir?" I asked him though I knew what he wanted

"You have a detention at lunch for skipping yesterday. I don't want to see that happen again is that clear hiccup?" I nodded

"Completely. Oh and Sir my name's Sarah, Hiccups just a nickname"

"Ok Sarah off you go before you're late for your next lesson" I ran off down the empty corridor.

I made it to my next lesson (English) just as everyone else was walking in. I struggled to slow my momentum and nearly crashed into the person in front of me Sally

"Watch where you're going hiccup" she spat at me staring me straight in the eye it was kind of intimidating

"Sally hurry up will you? We can deal with her at lunch" Ruffnut came over dragging her away. I walked into the classroom last looking down and walked over to Arden, I have to admit I felt better once I sat down because I had to ask him something and I couldn't wait too.

"Ok class you can continue with your stories while I take the register" Mr Smith walked over to his desk and started calling out names

"Hey Arden I have to ask you something" I whispered to him

"Yea what is it hiccup?" he whispered back

"You know that dragon?" he nodded "well I think we should name him." He smiled at me laughing quietly I blushed out of embarrassment

"What do you think we should call him?" he asked still smiling

"w-well I have 2 options toothy…" he chuckled making me blush more "or t-toothless" I stuttered out the last name and he looked like he was actually thinking about it

"I like toothless, we should call him that it's a good idea hic-Sarah" he just called me Sarah this is amazing he called me by my real name. I could scream, of course I'm not going to but I could. It means he likes me this is the best day of my life minus the detention and feeling like I could throw up the contents of my stomach. I was grinning and by the look in his face he could tell why "I take it it's been a while since a kid at school called you-"

"Sarah Haddock" Mr Smith called out my name I looked up and he was staring at me

"Oh yes Sir" he nodded and went back to taking the register

"As I was saying it must have been a while since you've been called your real name by someone at school" I nodded "well how about I call you Sarah when we're with toothless" I smiled at him again he called me Sarah and the dragon toothless officially the best day ever

"I was thinking that cos it's always in that cove I don't think it can get out we could bring it food you know as long as we don't have to eat it as…"

Mr Smith looked around the class "Who's talking?" I looked down till he went back to his work

"Anyway what was I talking about oh I almost forgot I petted it and you couldn't I petted a dragon and you didn't" I boasted and he scowled at me

"I could have petted it I was just being nice and letting you"

"Yea, yea whatever before I forget we have to go see toothless later today. I want to make him a tail fin see if we can get him to fly again" I told him turning away from him and getting up to get our work so I had an excuse not to talk to him. I had already been in trouble once today and I wasn't in a hurry to be again.

During lesson Arden kept asking me why I wanted to get that dragon to fly and I would simply answer 'if you lost your leg and someone thought they could help, you would take the help but if your mum forbid you from getting help because she wanted you to stay with her what would you do? You would take the help and leave your mum. Now toothless can't leave us so he would attack you' he would stop talking after that trying to make sense of what I had said. Once he thought he figured it out he would ask me a follow up question but I would keep my answer the same every time

"hiccup can you please just answer me this one question?" he asked I nodded slightly cause I could feel Sally's eyes burning into the back of my head "do you feel ok cause you look terrible" I couldn't believe he said I looked terrible. Had he even looked in a mirror this morning?

"Stomach bug probably from the spit covered fish we had the other day and I presume you feel the same cause you look just as bad" I answered and it was his turn to nod

"is it that obvious?" he asked smiling at me I got nervous in case Sally was still watching so I gave the smallest smile I could while it still being considered a smile. He seemed to notice but for some reason decided not to question me on it

"Arden what have you done this lesson?" we looked up to see Mr Smith standing over us "well um" he started but was cut off

"It's not his fault he didn't do much work sir its Hiccup's she won't stop talking to him. It's like she can't take a hint" my mouth dropped not again. Sally had blamed me for something while letting Arden get away with it

"Is that true Arden is Hiccup disturbing you?" he asked. Are you kidding me? Now he's calling me Hiccup! I finally get Arden to call me Sarah when we weren't at school and now our teachers calling me Hiccup. He doesn't even know how the nickname started "if she is I can move her and put Sally here instead, her work is very good and if I put her here I'm sure you can quickly make up the time you've lost" he continued before he stopped waiting for Arden to answer his question

"Hiccup wasn't disturbing me, in fact she was helping me because I was stuck" I quickly turned round just in time to see Sally's face drop and her eyes flair in anger

"Oh, ok then carry on" Mr Smith walked away and I grinned at Arden

"Thanks" I whispered

"No problem" he whispered back "but it's not like it was much of a contest was it I was obviously going to choose you over Sally." This is great I can find out more about what he likes about me

"Really why was it obvious?"

"It's obvious because you don't bully people, you don't lie to get your own way, you don't manipulate people and we have a lot more in common not to mention the fact that we have a dragon together that's basically a marriage contract" he explained adding a slight joke to the end which make me laugh slightly

"That's nice of you but honestly who would you have chosen if you had the choice at the beginning of the year?"

"Honestly? Sally. But that was before I knew what you were like" he added the last part straight away seeing the slight hurt in my eyes. I smiled sadly and turned to my work.

**I know it's been forever but I've been so ill my mum banned me from the computer. So please review and I'm sorry it's been so long and since I'm better now I should be able to update quicker**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well I said I'd update quicker and I have. So once you've read please review and tell me what you like and don't like**

The rest of the day flew by and was quite nice despite the dirty looks I got from Sally and Ruff mainly Sally. I had gotten a lift home by Gobber who still didn't completely trust me to stay the whole day and I have to admit that was kind of insulting. I only skipped once and he knew I wasn't going to do it again yet he still didn't trust me completely. But without a doubt the thing that made my day was going to see that dragon. I was so excited I had even bought a bag full of fish for him. Obviously I told Arden in our last class together to buy one too so the dragon could have a proper meal. Now we were walking together through the woods each carrying a bag with 10 fish in

"You seem really giddy" Arden's voice brought me out of my thoughts. I looked at him smiling like a child on its way too Disney world

"Yea I guess I am. I'm just so excited and not just on seeing the dragon again. To be honest I'm terrified of that I'm excited because I saw that it had one tail fin and I want to see if it's possible to make a prosthetic fin for him" I blurted out my plan and he looked at me like I was insane

"What? How do you expect to get close enough to see? In case you haven't noticed it still doesn't fully trust us and I haven't petted it yet so I wouldn't be much good at keeping its attention" he asked half laughing

"That's why we have this much fish so you can keep its attention" I explained he shook his head and chuckled at me I was going to ask why he was laughing but we had arrived at the cove by that time.

"I'm so excited to see if my plan is possible cos if it is he won't be stuck in here for the rest of his life" I was practically jumping from anticipation as we walked into the cove "hey toothless we're back and we brought food." I called "oh and if you were wondering we named you toothless cos otherwise we would be calling you dragon all the time and that seemed impersonal"

"Why did you do that?" Arden laughed

"I was explaining, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing" he kept laughing but stopped when toothless jumped out in front of us sitting like a dog by our feet, his eyes orbs

"Hi toothless we brought lunch" I told him holding out my bag of fish "or is it dinner?" I wondered looking at Arden for an answer, he only shrugged "oh I nearly forgot we gave you a name but you don't know ours do you?" toothless shook his head and I nudged Arden indicating that I wanted him to tell him our names

"Fine" he sighed "my names Arden and this is Sarah but most people know her as hiccup" toothless laughed slightly when he said hiccup and I scowled at both of them

"You know toothless I could have called you sooty" I grinned at him and it was his turn to scowl I nudged Arden again and motioned for him to give the fish to toothless. He reached into his bag and threw a fish to toothless who ate it in one "I need to go look at his tail can you feed him both bags but slowly? I need to make a sketch in the back of my maths book that I can use as blue prints for his prostatic tail" I whispered to him he nodded and I snuck off. When he held out another fish for toothless to eat I knelt down next to him and pulled my math book out of my bag that I kept with me the entire way here. I took out my pencil and sketched his tail out on the back page of my book. I turned the page over and on the opposite side I drew a quick plan of how his tail should look and added the joins to the other tail that his prosthetic would need along with a strap and a buckle to keep it secure

"Hey Sarah you almost done cos he defiantly is" I looked up happy he called me by my actual name and saw toothless had a bag over his head and was turning his head trying to get out

"Why did you give him the bag?" I asked packing my things up figuring I had enough to make a prototype

"I didn't he took it and it's not like I can just take it back considering that he is a dragon and can kill me with a flick of his wrist" he whispered harshly

"Yea, yea whatever you say now come on I need to get home. I have a few things there that I can use to make the tail" I walked over to him and took the bag off toothless' head "goodbye toothless we'll see you tomorrow" I put my hand on his head and smiled when I felt him press himself into my hand

"This is so unfair" I heard Arden whine

"Ok then you pet him" I took my hand off his head and grabbed Arden's hand moving it closer to toothless' head he growled slightly "shh it's ok toothless he won't hurt you in fact if it wasn't for him you would still be trapped" I told him in a soothing voice. Toothless tilted his head then nodded pushing his head against Arden's hand I could feel him tense but soon relax "happy now?" I asked

"Defiantly" he answered looking at me grinning

"Good now let's go, we'll see you later toothless we have some big work to do by tomorrow" I pulled Arden away and waved bye to toothless who nodded back. I ran out of the cove dragging Arden with me.

Toothless' POV

I watched the humans leave I think they said their names were Sarah and Arden but honestly I was thinking more about my name than theirs. Toothless. They gave me a name based on something they liked about me not like those Vikings did to my ancestors. They gave us a name out of hatred, night fury, but no matter how much I despise those Vikings for nearly whipping out my species I would take them any day over their descendants, the disgusting people who captured me and stole my ability to fly. They were much worse than what I had heard about the Vikings. They had sophisticated weapons and nets that could be launched with weights attached to the ends. Not to mention the bolas that had captured me and was the cause of my tails amputation. But the worst thing was those humans had been in contact with them I could smell their disgusting scent on them. The other day and even today I could still catch a faint stench of them.

Though those two seemed nice and I did trust them. The girl more than the boy probably because he had a knife on him when we first met but the girl did say that he freed me so he couldn't be that bad. Oh well I shook my head and walked over to the lake for a drink.

While I was drinking I thought back to what Sarah had said to Arden. She said something like I have to go home I have some stuff for the tail, what tail? Mine? No of course not that's just stupid. Why would she make me a tail and even if she did it would be pointless I could never regain my flight. Once I had my drink I made myself a bed by burning some of the grass in a corner and patting it down to make it nice and comfy "ahh this is nice, I hope they come back soon I'm dying to find out what Sarah was talking about" I sighed content for the first time in a while, I had a full stomach, a comfy bed and I had something to look forwards to in the morning or evening whichever it was but I hoped morning.


	11. Chapter 11

Arden's POV

We were walking through the woods neither in a hurry to get home. I didn't want to return home because I knew as soon as I walked through the doors it would be straight to bed, stay there till super and then back to bed. But I didn't know why Sarah didn't want to go home. From what I knew she had a great house and Gobber hadn't told her dad so she wasn't grounded like I was. But I knew it wasn't any of my business so I didn't ask. Instead I decided to take the opportunity to ask about how she planned to make the fake tail.

"Hey Sarah," I started and she looked at me quizzically "how do you plan to make the tail?" she smiled as she thought of her answer.

"I have a basic idea but you have to help" she answered.

"Sure whatever you need I'll be happy to help. Anything to get out of the house my mum grounded me and the only way I can get out of the house is for school. This gives me the perfect excuse cos I can tell her I have to help someone with a project" I smiled sheepishly at her because of my admission but I couldn't help but see the slight disappointment that flashed across her face. I was going to ask what was wrong but figured it wouldn't do much good "so how did your dad take it?" I asked trying to break the uncomfortable silence that had enveloped us.

"He doesn't know, or at least I don't think he does. But if he does then I'm not getting punished for it but then again I don't think he knows because I was ill when he came home and no one gets yelled at when they're ill. Do they?" she was rambling on and ordinarily I would have found it terribly frustrating but today I was feeling 100% calm and I even enjoyed listening to the rambling.

Sarah was talking, well complaining the rest of the way out of the woods and it didn't bother me in the slightest much to my surprise. I mean I knew that she wasn't annoying me that much but to ask questions about something you understood very little off wasn't very good. I kept thinking that I would snap at her but I was restraining myself from giggling at her well placed jokes and yes you read right _giggling _like a school girl which would be bad considering I'm a boy.

"Hey Arden what are you doing out here? Your mum just called mine and my mum was grilling me on where you were" oh great Tuff was here and I'm with Sarah. I just hope I can come up with a good excuse as to why we're together and why I wasn't at home when he knew all too well that I was grounded from skipping yesterday.

"Hey Tuff" I greeted as he came over. I glanced at Sarah and saw her nervously biting her lip. Tuff snapped at her earlier and I could tell she wasn't in a hurry for it to repeat itself. I smiled reassuringly to her.

"Arden like I just said why are you here?" Tuff was standing in front of me and hadn't noticed Sarah at least I didn't think he had "why are you here? Are you stalking him or something? Just leave will you Arden's too nice to tell you to get lost but I'm going to do him a favour. Leave" I saw her about to leave and I instinctively grabbed her arm.

"Tuff she's here cos she's helping me with my work in English, that's also why I'm not at home I'm going to hers so she can help me and I would have called my mum and told her but I left my phone at home. If you call her and tell her to go to my room then she will see my phone there" I explained praying that I did leave my phone there and that it wasn't in my bag.

"Oh, ok well I guess I'll call my mum tell her and leave you two to do your work" he sounded a little disheartened that I had Sarah stay and him leave. But he was mean to her and I'm starting to like her…but not in that way…I think. I shook my head just as he turned to walk away and I was about to do the same thing when Sarah asked.

"Why did you shake your head?" I looked at her and saw no reason to lie we already had a huge secret we could keep so one tiny one won't make a difference (so I told half the truth)

"I was starting to feel guilty and almost called him back over. I tend to do that when he uses that tone he knows I break when he uses it" I could swear I saw her snicker "what?" I asked involuntarily smirking at her

"Nothing" she lied, her lips going into a thin line as she tried to stop laughing

"Whatever, come on lets go to yours" I shook my head again deciding to drop the subject

"Yea come on before Gobber has another panic attack and calls my dad. I don't need him knowing I had a boy over. We don't have the best relationship and if he found out then I would never be able to talk to anyone again" I laughed at her thinking it was a joke but I saw she was serious, wow is he that overprotective. I smirked at her and we continued going back to her house.

**sorry for the wait**


	12. Chapter 12

We were outside her house and I was waiting for her to open the door. She had told me to turn around so I couldn't see. Which I couldn't really understand I mean it's not like I was going to break in or anything

"You coming?" her voice broke me out of my thoughts and I span around to see her motioning for me to go in

"Yea" we went in and I stared around. Her house was huge compared to mine and her TV was massive I heard her laugh "what?"

"Your face! My house isn't that good" I looked at her saying are you serious and waved my arm in front of me

"Can you not see it, its miles better than my house I'm jealous" I was being truthful but she didn't seem to believe me

"Come with me I have to get some stuff from my room" she started up the stairs and I was feeling nervous about going round her house in case I broke anything. I wasn't exactly careful and I had the worst luck when it came to expensive things but I pushed those feelings away and ran to catch up with her.

Her room was just as impressive as the rest of the house and I could see a laptop laying on the floor half hidden under her bed. This must have been what she used when she was researching toothless.

"Can you hurry up what if your dad comes by and finds us here?" I begged putting my hand on her shoulder and giving her a gentle shake.

"Patience is a virtue" was her only reply. Yea right was all I could think. "Where is it?" I couldn't tell if she was talking to me or herself I determined herself and kept quiet. Seeing as I had nothing to do I sat on her bed drumming my fingers on the covers waiting patiently for her to gather what she needed. "Finally" I heard her groan. I looked over and saw she was holding a cardboard box.

"What is it?" I asked

"A box" she answered with a 'duh' tone.

"I can see that I mean what's inside" I told her slightly aggravated.

"A present" this was getting annoying

"Will you stop being so vague" I was annoyed and made no effort to hide it, she giggled slightly at my outburst.

"Temper" oh my god.

"Will you just tell me" I begged.

"My aunt sent me a leather jacket a few years ago its pure leather and really uncomfortable so I don't wear. It the only time I wear it is when she visits but she hasn't been round in 6 months and all its doing is gathering dust. So why not put it to good use and turn it into a dragon's tail" she explained and I was silently shocked at how ingenious it was. Placing it on her bed she asked "happy?" sarcasm filled her voice, I stifled a laugh and walked to her door opening it for her.

"Ok anything else?" she nodded

"Yea I need metal like strong metal the kind that doesn't bend easy" I thought for a minute when I had an idea

"Why don't we go see Gobber he has a prosthetic hand he made himself he has to have strong metal." I saw her smile at me and I was kind of proud of myself "wait do you know where he lives?" I asked she waved her hand

"Please I've known Gobber for years. I've slept at his house countless times I could walk there in my sleep"

"Ok well lead the way" I motioned for her to walk out of the room and followed once she had.

We were stood outside Gobber's house and were waiting for him to answer. I knew he was in cos I could hear him making his way to the door but with a peg leg he wasn't the fastest person on earth. The door swung open and Gobber stood before us, his fake hand a mug filled with god knows what

"Sarah Arden what can I do ya for?" he asked that smile plastered on his face like it usually was

"Can we borrow some metal like iron or something along those lines please?" she asked going closer to him and holding her hands together like she was praying. I thought he would say no. I mean why would he give us metal when we had no explanation ready for him and when he was still a little mad at us for skipping?

"Course you can love," he smiled motioning with his hand for us to come in "just tell me what you need it for" I had no answer but apparently Sarah had been thinking of one on our way here

"I kind of broke something at home and I need to fix it do you mind?" he shook his head

"Not at all I'll just tell yer father first" she scowled and he laughed "you know I'm only messing lass. Come on pick what you need and off you go. I'm not having you spend forever here and when you 2 go to yours your father being home and going off on one when he sees you together you know what he's like jumping to conclusions" she laughed and I didn't know whether or not I should as well cos I wasn't sure if he was being serious or not.

I sat on Gobber's couch waiting for them to gather what we needed, I was fidgeting while I waited feeling pretty useless

"Come on I've got what we need, we can go back to mine now I need to get it fixed before my dad comes home later" I looked up as she walked in, her arms full of iron poles that had been cut into smaller pieces so she could carry them

"Want me to carry some of that for you?" I asked standing up

"No" she answered bluntly turning round and heading for the door I looked after her

"Don't look so confused lad she likes being independent and with her dad she can't do that too often so whenever she gets the chance she revels in it" Gobber explained patting my shoulder before walking with me to the door "well I'll see you 2 tomorrow and you don't have to worry your dad will be none the wiser" we left the house side by side waving goodbye to Gobber

"You sure you don't want any help? I get being independent but you can still be it and have a little help" I tried to urge her into letting me help a little. Though I had my doubts that she would but surprisingly she handed over half of the iron sticks. I smiled satisfied with the result I had gotten and we walked almost silent back to hers.

**I'm sorry it's so short I've had the worst writers block promise the next will be longer**


	13. Chapter 13

Hiccups POV

I don't usually let people help me when I have the chance to be independent but my crush on Arden over rid my own pride and I gave in and in a way I was grateful. That lot weighed a ton but in many ways I wasn't cos we walked in silence the entire way. I felt a need to break the silence but I had no idea how to do it but lucky for me Arden did it in my place

"What happened to your mum?" ok I'm starting to think that giving him the poles wasn't the best idea

"What-" I started but he cut me off answering for me

"I saw her a lot, years ago but one day she just vanished. No one knows what happened but there were a few speculations but no one was sure" I nodded sadly remembering my mum laying in that hospital bed, needles stuck in her and all sorts of machines surrounding her. I shook the memories from my mind and looked at his slightly confused face. I decided that I might as well answer

"There was a car crash and she was in hospital for 3 days before she died in her sleep" my voice wavered a bit at the end and I fought to keep back the tears. Even after 2 years I hadn't fully come to terms with the fact that I'll never see my mum again

"Oh I'm sorry I didn't mean to bring back memories I was just curious" he seemed to sense my voice change and his voice was apologetic. I smiled slightly at him to show I was fine. We had arrived back at my house now and I was relieved to see that there wasn't a car parked outside. As we walked to the front door I saw an error, if we both had our hands full how would we open the door?

"Can you get the keys for me?" I asked

"My hands are full" he asked like I hadn't realised

"I know that, pass them over and take my keys from my front pocket" I was slightly irritated and I could tell by the look he was wondering why I didn't pass him the rest of them and do it myself and to be honest I just didn't want to. Ignoring me he balanced the iron sticks on one arm taking mine from me with his newly free hand grinning at me rolling my eyes. I pulled out my keys opening the door and closing it behind me before he could walk through. I heard it opening behind me and a few seconds later along with some annoyed grumbles it closed

"Don't be petty" he commented walking up behind me

"I'm not" I defended

"Course now where do you want them?" he held out his arms

"oh well just wait here I need to get the box with the leather jacket in it from my bed" I ran off to grab the box trying to think what to do once I had everything I needed cos truth be told I had no idea I was kind of making it up as I go along. "I could always go to that abandoned blacksmiths on the far end of the village. But it is condemned and if it collapses while we're in there it could kill us" I was muttering to myself as I picked up the box opening it to check it actually held the jacket, it did, before I closed the box again and rushing down the stairs to see Arden waiting there looking a little bored "come on I'm ready and before you ask we're going to the old blacksmiths" he tilted his head slightly in confusion "you know the one that's supposedly haunted" I explained

"Oh right but before we go can we get a bag? These are really starting to dig in my arm"

"Yea sure wait a second and hold this for me" I placed the box on top of the iron rods and walked past him. Before he could argue I opened a drawer taking out a strong big bag and turned to go back to him. Only to find he had snuck up behind me I jumped and slapped his arm

"You scared me half to death" he just grinned and I couldn't keep up my angry appearance

"Only half I'll keep that in mind" he joked I took the box off him and opened the bag for him to tip the iron poles in.

"Come on then I don't want to take any longer than what's absolutely necessary" I handed him the bag tucking the box under my arm and walking past him. I heard him following behind me and smirked at the knowledge that he relied on me to make decisions on what to do and that if it weren't for me then he probably wouldn't have even found toothless. I was the cause of this and him being my friend. I couldn't stop the happiness that surrounded me with those thoughts. I left the house leaving it unlocked. I didn't see the point everyone knew each other in the village and there wasn't really any crime maybe the odd stolen phone but nothing major. I led the way to the blacksmith humming to myself the entire way acting as if no one was there. Actually the only reason I even remembered he was there was from the odd annoyed grunt.

"Come on slowpoke" I called back to him earning a series of annoyed grunts. I laughed at him I was enjoying this and I was especially enjoying the fact that I had gotten over the hiccupping thing and he considered me a friend. I heard rustling in the trees that were on our left

"You know I prefer the shy-" I cut him off

"Shh I heard something" I held my hand out behind me and as luck would have it he walked straight into me outstretched hand

"What?" I heard his muffled question

"Shh just listen there's something going on in there" I focused my hearing and glanced behind to see Arden doing the same thing. Sure enough there were voices but I couldn't make out any specific words. We crept towards the voices and I could see men in hunters uniforms and guns resting on their shoulders. I tried to hear what they were saying again and this time I was successful

"Why are we even here sir the dragon landed in the other side of the woods?" they knew about toothless I looked back and saw the same panicked expression on his face that I was sure I had on mine

"Yes I know the dragon is in the other side of the woods but it will still be bound in the bolas. The part of the woods where it landed is too thick for us to get through so we must find another path. Do you want to risk a civilian coming across the beast and being attacked or worse eaten?" The person the first man addressed got right in his face

"Uh n-no sir" the man we only knew as sir smirked and backed up

"Good now keep looking for a path we can use. I hear from that old head teacher at the school that this place is riddled with hidden paths that lead all over the woods most nearing the dense area, I also hear curious little kids come by often to try and find these paths. But some simply come to see who can brave the longest in the haunted blacksmith. Ha kids are stupid. Anyway if that happens just tell them that the animal we're tracking has run this way got it?" his little speech was responded with a chorus of yes sirs they were so in sync I almost laughed at how robotic they sounded.

"Shh" I looked back to see Arden directly behind me. I blush at the fact that he's so close but I quickly hid it

"I didn't say anything" seeing his questioning look I added "not including that" grabbing my arm and pulling me closer he whispered

"You giggled" I did? Damn I thought I stopped myself

"Come on we have to go now remember your dad" he continued and I nodded allowing myself to be led away.

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	14. Chapter 14

**hope you like this chapter I can't count how many times I've changed it**

Once we made it inside I had set everything out on an old work desk "so how did you heat coal in the past?" I asked

"It wasn't that long ago maybe 10 years at most but I think it'll be like following instincts or something along those lines" I didn't see the logic in his theory but I wasn't about to tell him that

"Ok maybe we can try and get it to work"

"What's all this we stuff why can't you do it?" I think I know why he hasn't got a girlfriend he has no idea how to be a gentleman

"Just set it up I want to have a look around see what I can find to help me…and you you're helping I'm not letting you worm your way out of it." I heard an annoyed groan but ignored it and started my exploration round the old blacksmiths.

On my way round I found a few doors most of which had been boarded up. The last one however wasn't in fact it was swinging open on one of its hinges. The other appeared to have broken off from the door but stuck to the frame. I went into the room, looking round there wasn't much in here but there was a needle and thread

"Why is that in here? This is a blacksmiths not a sewing circle" I muttered to myself shrugging I grabbed them figuring they could come in handy at some point "is the coal ready yet!" I yelled as I walked back to the first room I was in

"I don't know they're glowing a little if that means anything" I had no clue but it sounded good

"Ok then put one of the iron pipes on the coals but only the tip ok" I yelled out some instructions to him as I stepped through the door

"Why the tip?" he asked as he followed out my instructions

"Cos I know what I want doing and I need you to do that ok" he rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else "ok so I found some stuff for sewing weird right but anyway while that's heating up and softening I'll start turning this jacket into the tail fin" he looked at me questioningly "I'm just forming the basic shape so it's easier to place the iron" he nodded

"You think I should start flattening it now save a little time?"

I smiled "Yea thanks we really need to save time" he nodded going over to a shelf that still held a few tools

"Why are there so many tools left? Whoever used this place before certainly didn't hang around long enough to get his stuff" I smirked

"Maybe they're superstitious"

"Maybe" he started hitting the softening metal and I turned my attention back to making my jacket a fin.

"Hey I've done now what?" I tuned from my spot to see him holding a pipe with a flattened tip

"Set another on the coal to heat up and while you're doing that find something to make a hole in the one you've flattened and be quick it'll be easier when it's still hot. Oh and don't flatten the other end and I need 5 of them" ok maybe I was being a little bossy but I couldn't help it

"Yes sir" he smirked his voice was full of sarcasm. Shaking my head I ignored him finishing off the tail fin. Now all I had to do was wait for him to finish so I could sew it all together and hopefully it would work. If it didn't I would look really stupid. I only had a few little things to finish on the shape and once I had I could either help him or just leave him to it. Most of the time I would have chosen the latter but since I was in a rush I had to go with the former. Finishing off I turned to him

"I'll help" I walked over doing what I knew I needed doing exactly right and he couldn't do without a long explanation.

"Thanks. You know you can be quite bossy"

I smirked slightly "yea I tend to do that every now and then probably why I don't take charge in group work" he laughed though it wasn't a joke, strange.

We talked for a long time while we worked and with a lot of banging testing and starting again the fin was finally finished or so I hoped it was. Sewing together the last part to make it officially ready I proudly held out the fin opening and shutting it making sure in worked properly. It seemed suitable for a prototype so I gave a satisfied nod of approval

"So will it work?" looking it over I answered

"Yes it just needs a strap" the smile on his face dropped

"Why didn't you tell me before?" shrugging I answered

"Not important then besides that's easy it's pretty much just a belt" I stated like it was obvious which it was to me

"Oh ok so you have one?"

"No I don't, you?" he looked confused

"How do you not have one belt? Everyone has a belt" I shrugged I actually did have one but it was a hello kitty bright pink belt and I highly doubted that toothless would want to wear that and I would do anything to stop that dragon from being angry at me. I did value my life and I was still slightly wary of him though I would never tell Arden that.

"Well I guess if you don't have one I'm gonna have to get one. Come on might as well go to mine" I stared at him. Did I just hear him right? I was going to his house. If a month ago someone had told me that I would be going to his house I would have said they were crazy but now it was actually happening "Sarah you ok? You've been dazed for a few minutes" I shook my head blinking a few times to see Arden stood in front of me looking in my eyes. I quickly looked away blushing

"Yea sorry I'm fine just trying to think how long I have till my dad comes home" I lied silently proud of myself for coming up with an excuse so quickly

"Ok so can you come?" I nodded

"Yea I can so we going?"

"Come on" he motioned for me to follow. As he walked out I gathered everything I brought with me and followed closely behind.

I stared up at his house stunned that I was actually seeing it "well come on then" I shook my head looking at him I was dazing out a lot today

"Isn't your mum in?"

"No she works late most days we're fine for a few hours"

"oh ok" I motioned for him to go in following once he had opened the door, his house was really nice and quite big, just a bit smaller than mine

"Just so you know I'm grounded so my mum can't know you were here" he told me I nodded in understanding as he led me up the stairs. "I think I have an old belt that's quite thick leather so it should be strong enough for a dragon that is if toothless doesn't just rip it off". We were outside his room and I decided to wait for him to find it telling him I'd look around for a minute while he looked. He went into his room as I set off on my little exploration. From what I had seen the house was really nice fancy but not over the top. I had found quite a few mythological books lying around that I recognised from the local library. I had looked at the date they had been checked out and most of them were quite recent. Some had even been taken out today and those ones centred on dragons

"At least he wants to help as much as I do" I don't know why but I had doubted how much he really wanted to help toothless

"Hey I got it you ready to go?" He yelled and I heard his feet tapping on the stairs as he ran down to get to me

"Yea" I couldn't help the smile that was covering my face still holding the newest book I had picked up

"What's with you?" he asked when he came face to face with me "oh right the books" he realised when he looked down seeing the book with a dragon curled up on the cover

"Sorry but I can't help being happy knowing that you want to help toothless as much as I do" I answered letting him take the book from me "Find anything useful in it?" he nodded admiring the cover

"Yea a little about the food they like and hate but I don't know if it's valid or not we could always try it out see if it's true or just nonsense someone wrote to make money" I agreed with him but had to say this

"Yea that's fine but you're giving him the food I want to stay on his good side" I walked past him smirking at his reply

"Good let me get killed that's real nice" I heard him follow behind after the comment.

We didn't really talk after that walking in a comfortable silence to the cove while trying to fix the belt to the tail fin. While I was making it I had left a small slit in each side just big enough for the belt to fit through. It would probably need some adjustments later though depending on if it worked or not.

"Hey Sarah we're here" shaking my head I looked over at him he was looking at me slightly concerned

"Good. What's with you?" I asked genuinely confused as to why he had stopped and wasn't going into the cove

"You've been zoning out all day. You know what why don't we just put the tail fin in here till later. We can come back tonight feed him and try the fin out ok?" I nodded still a little dazed I had been stuck in my own head a lot today. I motioned for him to lead the way into the cove following closely behind.

"Hey toothless we're back but only for a moment we're coming back later but her dad'll have a fit if she doesn't get back before him and she'll never be here again. So yea oh and we're going to try and find you some extra special food to make up for it ok?" Arden yelled through the cove summing everything up in one long sentence. As soon as we got into the cove fully toothless jumped off the rock he had been sunbathing on and looked at us questioningly before his gaze shifted to what I had in my arms. He tilted his head looking thoroughly confused

"I'll explain later we're really short on time right now but we will bring you something special back and if this works then it'll give you something back you've lost" I was trying to hint at what this fin was for but it seemed that as long as it was folded up he would never know what it was for and I wasn't about to spoil the surprise. Patting his head I walked past him and over to a small rock in the ground just big enough to be a seat if I needed one. Carefully laying the fin down I went back over to them nudging Arden in the side silently telling him to pet toothless as well. He had virtually no bond with him and even though I was just starting to form one it was forming and if he was going to be here too then he needed to become friends with toothless. He did as I asked and patted the scaly head rubbing his snout receiving a purr in response. He smirked taking his hand from the head he turned to me

"We going?" I nodded "good oh and while I remember I ripped a page from the library book telling you about what dragons like and don't so we can buy some stuff to see if it works." I stared at him "I'll fix it later" he assured before leaving I turned back to toothless

"Promise we'll bring you something special" I scratched behind his ear before following after Arden but not before giving a final wave to toothless.

We were walking down the path that led to my house and I could see my dad's car wasn't there. Breathing a sigh of relief I slowed my pace which had been a near run

"Thank you god" I looked towards the sky empathising the words with my hands

"What's with you?" he asked smirking

"No dad" I answered swaying happily as I walked

"Hey Sarah" I saw him stop and stopped just after

"Yea what is it?"

"Well I was thinking that it may be a good idea for me to get your number. Obviously you'll get mine" I shook my head thinking I had heard him wrong. I opened my mouth to answer but no words came out. Just as I had formed a few words that seemed to form a coherent sentence he interrupted "So uh do you want to? I mean I'm ok if you don't I just thought it would make sense to, you know keep in touch know who's doing what" I quickly nodded

"Yea here this is mine I don't have my phone on me but I know the number" I searched my pocket for a piece of paper and also found a broken piece of lead from the top of my pencil. God knows why they're there but lucky it was. I scribbled down my number passing him the wrinkly paper. Taking out his phone he typed in the number I had written down and I saw him typing something

"No paper" he explained briefly "sent you a text, register it as mine" before putting his phone away he looked at the screen "damn I gotta go home" he placed his hand on my shoulder and kissed my cheek before running off home. I stood there stunned for a moment I hadn't just imagined that had I? The burning on my cheek confirmed that it had actually happened, my mouth hung open and I couldn't bring myself to walk back home I just stood there.

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	15. Chapter 15

**sorry for the wait**

Arden's POV

As I was running it suddenly dawned on me what I had done and I stopped so suddenly I nearly fell, I had just kissed Sarah. I didn't know why I had it was a spur of the moment kind of thing

"I can only hope she knows it means nothing cos it didn't, right it was an accident meant nothing" I tried reassuring myself but it didn't work very well my mind kept on drifting back to the kiss and I wanted to forget but my legs were wobbly the longer that I thought about it and I wanted to set it straight with her but I just didn't have the time. My phone started beeping and vibrating and as I pulled it out I saw why. The alarm I had set earlier was going off telling me I had 5 minutes to get home before my mum was there and if I didn't want to be grounded for the rest of the year I had to rush. Stuffing my phone back in my pocket I started running, if I only had 5 minutes I had to rush it was a 15 minute run for most people.

I didn't stop for anything very aware of the time, I was elated to see my house my lungs were burning and I was on the verge of collapse but I had made it. I barely had time to close the door behind myself when my mum's car pulled up. I ran to the kitchen automatically turning the TV on and pretended to make something to eat.

"Arden I'm home" I heard the door close "Arden what have I told you about the TV you aren't allowed to watch any you're grounded or did you forget?" I heard her turn the telly off and turned to see her come into the kitchen

"Sorry"

"Any homework?" I shook my head "ok you can watch the news for half an hour" I was thrilled to hear I could watch the telly but I quickly deflated when I remembered she had said news. Oh well still better than nothing.

I had sat watching the screen bored. It may have been better than nothing but it was still boring nothing had happened it was just updates on sports, weather and something about money. The reporter then left the screen and the man who came to school a few days ago was on the screen talking with another reporter. The familiar face grabbed my attention and I tuned in turning the telly up a bit

"Thank you Samantha, I'm here with James Dawson and he's going to reveal what he can on the strange things that have been going on lately." She turned to him and asked

"So can I call you James?" he nodded "what has been going on? The people are getting very concerned, over half the animals have disappeared the local shelter is almost bare" with all that had been happening with toothless it had slipped my mind that animals had been disappearing.

"Well Lauren we have confirmed that it is a big cat that had wandered into this area. It is usually confined to the area of the woods that is inaccessible to us humans but somehow it has managed to escape from there and into the village. We must ask that while we are working to capture the animal and relocate it that no one goes out after dark or travels alone. It is a very dangerous creature and all necessary precautions must be taken" with that he finished and it was quite a convincing lie, if I didn't know the truth I was sure I would have been fooled

"Well there you have it the truth on what's going on back to you Sam." The reporter turned back to the previous one

"Thank you Lauren just to recap. Don't go out after dark or alone. Try to limit your trips outside especially if you live near the woods. That's all from us we'll see you in a few hours goodbye." The screen turned black and adverts came on a second later

"Wonder if Sarah saw that?" I muttered to myself "oh well I'll ask her tomorrow" it then dawned on me that I had her number I searched my pocket and found the crumpled bit of scrap paper. I grabbed the house phone and dialled her number in the phone and waited for 3 rings.

"Hello?" her voice asked

"Hey it's me just wondered if you saw the news?" I could imagine her shaking her head when she answered

"No. Why"

"Oh uh just wondered cos you remember that Mr Dawson who came to school that day to tell the kids what was going on?"

"Yea why?"

"He was on the news saying they know it's a big cat and that you can't go out after dark" I only told her the important part

"Big cat sure I believe that" I could hear her sarcasm and smiled at it "You know I bet they don't want people out after dark so they have more time to look for toothless" I nodded forgetting that she couldn't see me when I finally realised I answered quickly and with a slight stutter

"Y-yea my thoughts exactly"

"So we going out after dark to see and get toothless' food? I have already brought him some fish but I think we'll need a proper basket to hold it in or our hands will end up having permanent groves in them" I agreed with her before asking when I realised we were in a rush for when her dad came home

"Your dad didn't find it strange that you brought home bags of fish for no apparent reason"

"I told him it was for school" as if she could see my confusion she added "I told him we were doing dissection in science though I had to add in that I wasn't doing it and to make up for it buying the fish. He didn't ask why I had gotten whole fish instead of just the eyes but I think he just didn't want to bother he looked real tired"

"Oh ok so when am I going to see you?" I asked feeling slightly nervous in case it was awkward after I kissed her but based on our conversation so far I didn't think it would, she was acting like nothing had happened which I was thankful for

"I'll see you at nine by the woods near mine if that's good for you. It'll give you time to buy the basket I got the fish you buy the basket sound ok?"

"Uh yea that sounds perfect. Bye" I clicked off before she could say it back. Placing the phone next to me I hadn't noticed my mum was next to me until she made her presence known.

"Who was that?" I jumped a little turning to her

"Oh no one just a friend" I lied unintentionally biting my lip which was a classic sign of mine that I was hiding something

"Who was it really?" she asked crossing her arms obviously catching my sign

"Just a friend no one important" that wasn't really a lie to her Sarah wasn't anyone important but to me she kind of was

"Ok if you don't wanna tell me I won't force it out of you but I will find out. Any way no more TV"

"Aww come on just a little more" I protested when she took the control switching it off

"No" I grumbled under my breath before storming upstairs. I slammed my door closed and belly flopped on the bed bouncing 3 times. I knew my mum would eventually find out I had been talking to Sarah but I was willing to put it off for a while. I rolled over onto my back staring up at my white ceiling "where am I gonna get a basket?" I asked myself sighing.

She really was vague about what she wanted and that worried me slightly in case I got something she didn't like. I decided that I would use what I had seen in her house to decide. After all I wasn't the only one with a tell you could tell what she liked in her house and what wasn't her taste. Like if I asked her about something she hated she would say two words about it then it was on to the next subject but if she liked the subject then she could go on and on and on about it only stopping when she noticed she was rambling, which was usually a good amount of minutes later.

"I'm so tired" I yawned dragging my hands down my face. Figuring I could have a few hours before I had to go buy a basket for toothless or Sarah it was kind of hard to tell who it was really for, I set my alarm turning over on my side to go to sleep. "I suppose if I wake up early enough I could even go to the woods for a bit"

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	16. Chapter 16

Hiccups POV

It took me a while to make my legs work but I finally did after about 5 minutes managing to get home only to find my dad had already been there and had left me a note. Once I read it I let out an annoyed sigh. It said that he had to go to Gobber's for something. A weapon to be exact, he like many of the other people in the village, were paranoid that they would be the next to disappear so were taking what they deemed necessary precautions. Having time to kill I did my homework for school not the most exciting thing to do with my time but I had to do something or I'd go insane.

As I finished I decided it would be a good idea to fetch toothless' food so I hurried to the shop to buy as much as I could. I had taken some money my dad hid around the house that he doesn't know I know about. I managed to get a fair amount of food so much in fact that I was lopsided. I brought a range of fish that I could only remember a few types, they were salmon and Icelandic cod I also bought an eel to see if he really did hate it.

After I finished shopping I went back home trying to rush as best I could and what I found at home made me hate my luck. My dad was sitting at the table and it looked like he was doing something important. I didn't bother asking what it was as I probably wouldn't understand a word he said. Nodding a greeting I dropped the bags on the table sighing in relief as the weight was lifted from my aching arms.

"Why you so late?" he asked not looking up

"I went shopping" I answered and immediately wished I had chosen different words as he looked up at me looking a mix of confused and concerned. I wasn't sure why he was concerned but I didn't dwell on it

"Shopping? You feeling ok you're not still ill are you?" I shook my head I was past that

"No I went food shopping" again I wished I had chosen different words as this made him open the bags to see what I brought

"Fish. Why did you only buy fish?" I took a moment to think up a suitable lie and answered with little confidence

"We're dissecting in science I'm not doing it so to make up I'm buying the dissection stuff" it seemed he was paying more attention than usual today as he asked

"Why do you need whole fish? When I was at school all you needed were the eyes"

"This was cheaper" thankfully it seemed he bought my excuse and it also seemed he hadn't realised I had no money, so before he could say anything I took the bags and ran upstairs

Once I finished stacking the food on my bed I ran back down the stairs, as soon as I entered the room the phone rang, before my dad could answer it I ran over and took it from his hand

"I'm expecting a call" I lied I didn't know why I took the phone from him but it seemed my instincts on not letting him have the phone were right. I found out it was Arden. I was tempted to hang up on him though I wasn't sure why, probably because of what had just happened but it had to be important for him to be calling so I didn't. Walking from the room I discovered it was quite important because while I was doing homework and shopping I hadn't been watching TV and it turned out the one time I wasn't watching I should have been because they were talking about the animals disappearing and claiming it was a big cat. If I didn't know about toothless I would have believed that but now I was sure they're lying.

We agreed to meet later tonight to give toothless his food and I even managed to get him to buy a basket for him. After I said bye I handed my dad the phone for no clear reason he didn't need it I just felt he should have it

"Mind telling me who that was?" he asked half sceptical

"Just a friend" I waved it off before going upstairs. I didn't have anything to do but I figured I could at least do some research about other dragons since toothless couldn't be the one taking the animals as he was trapped. I knew where I could find that info as well as I had found that web page before that told me what kind of dragon toothless was.

I worked for longer than I thought I had, when I looked at the clock it had been hours and I was only slightly closer to finding out what type of dragons were coming to the village. I had found out what were the most likely ones they were gronckle's, nadders, zipplebacks, terrors and monstrous nightmares. From what I had read the nightmare was the worst one apparently they liked to light themselves on fire.

"I really don't want to see one of those" I muttered to myself closing my laptop and hiding it back under my bed. I didn't have anything to do for the next few hours so I decided to do what I usually did when I was bored. Go exploring in the woods. Running down the stairs I ran straight out the door not giving my dad any time to ask me where I was going.

I managed to make it to the woods in a few minutes probably because I was rushing as I hadn't had the chance to actually go exploring. I had been in the woods to go see toothless but that was it, I hadn't done it just cos I had nothing better to do. As I made my way through the thick weeds that covered the ground I remembered the fact that if it wasn't for this then I wouldn't have met toothless and Arden would still not like me I smiled at that thought

"Thank you my weird ways of having fun. And my awful social life" it never occurred to me that talking to myself was strange but now "now I'm talking to myself like a crazy person" I shook my head before continuing on into the woods.

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	17. Chapter 17

It amazed me the fact that I could navigate my way through almost all of the woods without thinking about it. But I didn't have time too really think about it as I collided with an unmoveable object. Dropping to the ground I rubbed my head which had hit something solid. Looking up with only one eye half open it widened it was Arden

"We've got to stop doing this I'm gonna end up covered in bruises" he held out his hand which I gladly accepted he pulled me to my feet

"Hi what you doing here?" he asked

"I could ask the same I thought you were going to the shop to buy my-I mean toothless' basket" I messed up what I was saying a little but I don't think he noticed

"Oh little slip up did we" apparently he did.

"Only slightly so why aren't you shopping" I asked starting to walk away Arden following just behind

"Going later I still have an hour or two before I have to buy it. Anyway as I'm grounded my mum has no idea I'm out so if you see her don't mention seeing me ok? I had to sneak out from my window I don't need it locking" I couldn't help laughing at him climbing out the window. I could just imagine what he would look like trying to drop from the second floor. Trying to stay away from the windows so his mum wouldn't see him "yea, yea keep laughing it up I'll tell your dad you sneak out while he's at work not to mention the skipping"

"You wouldn't" I gawked at him before tapping his chest in mock annoyance

"Yea I wouldn't but I could if I wanted to so keep that in mind" we continued our banter till it was past dark meaning we had to set off to buy toothless' basket.

We wandered through the village for a little while not knowing where to go for a basket. I didn't know why but every time we passed someone he would always walk faster or hide somewhere. But I didn't think much of it guessing it was just because he wasn't meant to be out and if someone told his mum he would get in less trouble if they thought he was on his own. We made it to the shops after deciding the best place to look would be there. We spent many minutes browsing the different kinds. It made me laugh that he was acting like a real girly girl in a clothes shop taking forever just to decide you didn't want it

"Something tells me you don't like shopping" he commented crouched down to look at the price of a medium size wicker basket

"What was your first clue? That you're the one looking through them all or the fact that I'm stood on the other side of the aisle" I asked sarcastically turning he looked at me smirking

"You just get better and better don't you" I tilted my head confused as to what he meant "you're not one of those annoying girly girls who I have to make an effort to talk to. You're someone I actually enjoy talking to. Why I didn't use to like you I'll never know. All I do know is that I was dead wrong about you before" I knew that I was blushing at his words but I didn't care

"Can you pick one please I don't want the fish on my bed going off, it'll sink" I complained though I didn't really mind, it was nice having a little down time with him not fretting about toothless or finding out about dragons. Grabbing one he had been looking at for a while he swung it up so it was resting on his shoulder.

"Fine come on then let's go pay I've got my mum's purse" he waved said purse in front of me

"Maybe I should hold that wouldn't want the cashier thinking you have a purse" looking at the purse he seemed to be thinking for a moment before passing it to me

"Good point" he started walking, before I followed I looked at the purse it was very girly certainly not something I would have. All pink with little flowers painted on it was nice for anyone who was in to that kind of stuff but it wasn't my taste. Running to catch up we walked side by side to pay for the basket that was over half my size.

"That'll be £20" the woman behind the checkout told us a small smile on her face. I didn't know her name which was surprising seeing as how small the village was. But I had heard from some of the girls gossiping in school that a new family had moved in. I didn't know much about them but I did know they moved in the same time the people looking for toothless and those other dragons we were yet to see came. "You two had better hurry it's almost time for the curfew to start" I had forgotten about the curfew but being reminded of it I answered as quickly as I could

"Thanks we were just about to go home" I waved bye to the new woman, walking from the shop leaving Arden to carry the basket but since he didn't complain I felt no guilt in doing so.

I walked with him back to my house where I remembered a flaw in bringing him back

"Damn" I chastised myself

"What?" he asked placing down the basket

"My dad's inside. I have to bring down the fish and he's probable still awake" seeing the predicament he thought for a minute before saying

"You're screwed"

"Thanks, that's real helpful" I rolled my eyes at him before telling him to stay making sure I made it look like I was talking to a dog.

I cracked open the door; I felt like I was robbing the house, peeking round the door and thankfully luck was on my side. He had fallen asleep on his armchair snoring louder than humanly possible. I tiptoed through the door, creeping up the stairs trying to quieten my steps as much as I could. Once I reached the top of the stairs instead of walking across the floor I shuffled keeping both feet on the floor constantly so no sound was made. Even though my dad could snore like nothing else whenever I made even the slightest sound he acted like I had my music on full. His ears were like super sensitive only immune to his own noise. I cracked open my door seeing the fish where I had left it stinking up my bed covers

"Probably should have thought through where I was putting the fish it's going to be on my bed for months isn't it" I whispered to myself grabbing the bags which rustled a little, which made me freeze like a deer in headlights. When nothing happened I started moving again.

I practically jumped from happiness as I closed the door to my house I refrained from doing that though I did allow myself a little dance.

"Someone's happy" I could hear the laughter in his voice that he was trying to suppress failing immensely

"Can you blame me?" I asked placing the bags on the floor. I had only been holding them a few minutes and already they were imbedding themselves in my hands

"I guess I can't" he lifted the bags tipping the contents into the basket hauling it onto his shoulder "come on I think we've left toothless long enough he's probably starving and if he's as smart as I think he is he'll be dying to find out what that tail fin is for" I nodded following closely behind as we set off being careful to not run into any of those strange men looking for toothless and other dragons.

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	18. Chapter 18

Reaching the cove we ran in not wasting any time both just as eager to try out the newly made fin. As Arden predicted he was sat watching the fin with open curiosity. As we neared him his head turned the fin forgotten, I'm not sure if it was the fish or the fact that he missed us but he came straight over nuzzling us both.

"Hey toothless we've got you a present and it's not the food" I started scratching his face earning me a small purr. The mention of a present that wasn't food made the black dragon even happier to see us. He walked behind us pushing us both forwards towards the fin looks like he figured out that was his present. Leaning into Arden I whispered "I think he'll probably be a little uneasy when I put the fin on so I need you to distract him with the food" nodding he started walking behind toothless who followed him. I clapped to gain his attention motioning to the fin I had picked up "come on Arden is going to get your fish ready while I show you what your present is so be good and sit down for us will you" I tried not to sound patronising but it was a little hard sometimes when I had to deal with them.

Listening to me he sat on the floor allowing me to get behind him and Arden to start laying the fish on the floor but not before acting like someone trying to train a dog by sticking his hand out in front and trying to sound forceful and in charge went 'stay'. I laughed at him silently under my breath as I dropped the fin on the floor by his half tail. Using the belt I was going to use as a support for the fin I dragged his tail over as I was about to fit the buckle his tail swung away from me.

Looking up a scowl on my face I saw that Arden was hand feeding him and with all his attention on feeding him he wasn't aware that he was making toothless move away from me

"Arden stay still" I hissed over to him he looked over smirking before mouthing his apology standing still and allowing me to return to my previous task. I lined the fin back against the tail when it moved again. I let out a breath of frustration looking to see when had caused it. This time Arden was currently on the floor toothless eating off him I laughed yet again this was going to be a fun night.

"Sarah help please he keeps licking me cos I smell of fish"

"Deal with it yourself I've got a job to do myself" I answered him waiting till he managed to push toothless from him and make it to his feet though he was quite wobbly for a few seconds. Climbing onto his tail so I could hopefully have better luck I tried one final time to get the fin attached. I managed to get it buckled and was about to open the fin to look at my work when toothless jolted forwards jolting me off his tail onto my stomach. Getting on my hands and knees I turned to see Arden was laughing at me now dusting off my shirt I glared at him before realising what he had done. He had thrown the fish slightly so toothless moved to get it making me fall off

"Not funny" I insisted

"Beg to differ" he countered looking irritatingly smug.

"Just for that you don't get to fly" seeing he only had a few fish left I climbed back on his tail while I still had the chance. I had to make sure I had fitted it properly I don't want to hurt him from the rubbing on his injured skin. Pulling out the folding part of his fin I checked to make sure it was all connected,

"Hey Sarah" Arden started sounding a little worried

"Shh" ignoring him I carried on with my checks.

"Sarah will you turn around for a second" he snapped

"Be quiet I'm almost… don't I just have to do a few more-AHH!" I cut myself off with a startled cry as I was jerked from where I was sitting almost to the point as I had fallen off his tail. I was thankful I hadn't fallen cos when I looked down I was over the lake; looking back I saw toothless flapping his wings in a determined attempt to get out of this cove. I had both my hands clamping down on his tail ignoring the fin which was the least of my problems at the moment.

I could see he was starting to nose dive the further across we got, looking back to where we were I could hear Arden yelling if I was ok. I didn't want to answer back, far too concerned with my predicament. A flapping sound gained my attention in the mist of my panic looking down I saw the wing had folded up again like it was when we were on the ground. When it fully closed we were going in for a crash landing I acted instinctively and pulled open the fin in a desperate attempt to pull us up from our current destination to a hopefully safer one.

To my amazement it worked like magic. We pulled out of our nose dive and were flying up out of the cove straight as an arrow up into the sky. He tilted his wing to turn and I followed his wings tipping the fin so it lined up with his other wing. We flew around in a big turning circle

"I don't believe it its actually working!" I yelled out to Arden who was still stood where we had left him looking up at us mouth open. I wanted to land, to boast to him about it working but I had no idea how so I followed his lead till he decided to land. Doing what I hope was an unintentionally sharp turn I was thrown from his tail before I could even scream. I hit the water below skidding momentarily across the water surface before slowing enough to be submerged into the water. I had landed in a shallowish part allowing me to jump in the water cheering my success "yea!"

I swam over to Arden and toothless, who had swam over there faster than me,

"It worked!" I was grinning at them as I rung out my shirt. Arden grabbed my shoulders pulling me into a hug

"Congrats you did good" hugging him back he didn't seem to care that I was getting him soaked. Something nuzzled my side and looking down I saw toothless rubbing his head against my side in what I guessed was a thank you

"You don't have to thank me toothless besides I still have a lot of work to do on it" I gained confused looks from both of them so I elaborated "it may have worked but I had to hold it open so I'm going to try and make something to hold it open and hopefully make it less likely for me to get thrown off, cos honestly if that happened somewhere else I would be seriously hurt" they both nodded their heads

"So are you going to make a kind of saddle or something along those lines?" Arden asked after a moment's thought

"Yea that would be a good idea I could fashion one from an old horses saddle…if I can find a saddle that is" a snort from our side gained our attention. Looking down I laughed at toothless' face "don't be like that we're not making you a pet or anything but if you want to be able to fly again then it's a saddle or nothing" I couldn't help thinking how much like a parent I sounded then and apparently Arden thought so too as he laughed.

"Come on time to go Sarah we have to be back soon you know curfew we're already out too late" to empathise his point he tapped his wrist as though he had a watch on him

"Yea let's go, bye toothless we'll see you tomorrow. Hopefully a bit earlier and I'll start working on that saddle" I promised as we turned to leave a slight wine from behind made us both turn. He had sat down bowing his head looking sad. "What's wrong toothless?" I asked walking over placing my hand on his head. He moved his head quickly biting the end of my still wet shirt tugging it slightly not hard enough to make me fall but enough for me to be jerked

"I don't think he wants you to leave" Arden walked over patting his body as he passed I shook my head

"No that can't be it can it?" I asked looking from him to Arden clearly confused

"Think we should stay longer?" he suggested. I thought over it for a few moments before nodding

"Yea sure why not as long as we can get a bed I'm fine with staying" as soon as the words left my mouth toothless plodded off going somewhere I couldn't see. A loud creak sounded before a crack followed shortly after. A dragging sound was the next thing we heard and I looked over to him silently asking what was going on. All he could do was shrug as a large thick branch was dragged in front of us, toothless dropping the end he was holding in his teeth sitting by it waiting patiently. Neither of us moved not sure why he brought over a branch. He gestured to the branch then to us. Following his eyes it suddenly dawned on me

"Oh right this is going to be our pillow right for our bed" a gummy smile spread over his face as he nodded

"Thanks toothless" Arden thanked him before he sat on the floor "I'm not particularly tired but I think he wants us to go to sleep" he explained. Sitting down beside him I decided I might as well go to bed as well we would have to wake up early if we were going to get home before either our parents woke up or we were late for school. Resting my head against the branch I closed my eyes shivering slightly as a cold breeze hit me, but the coldness was soon gone as something smooth and warm covered my chest. Opening an eye a fraction I saw toothless had settled himself in between me and Arden one wing covering me the other covering him. Turning onto my side I wrapped an arm around his neck burying my head in between his shoulder and head

"Night" I yawned closing my eyes and allowing myself to fall asleep with the steady beat of toothless' heart making me forget that my bed was about a half an hour walk away.

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	19. Chapter 19

**sorry for the long wait**

A sharp shake woke me from my sleep; opening one eye a fraction I glared half-heartedly at Arden

"What?" I asked too tired to care that I sounded a little harsh

"Have you looked at the time it's almost nine" I sat up sharp jarring my back slightly, muttering irritated at myself I looked at him

"Really?" I asked rubbing my back

"Yes" he answered holding out a hand to help me up as toothless moved his wing from over my chest "we have two choices run like hell to school and hope we only get detention for a week or we could stay here for the day and pretend we were ill"

"They would never believe that would they?" I asked I had never faked being ill so I was apprehensive about it

"Don't worry I have faked being ill a few times and I've never been caught" he assured me

"Ok then why not but if they find out then I am blaming you completely" holding his hands up he smiled at me

"Fair enough"

"So what do you do when you fake ill?" I asked I didn't know what you were supposed to do

"Nothing really we can do anything and I say you practice flying or you let me have a go" I smiled at what he was trying to do

"No I make the tail fin I get to fly him" I justified why he wasn't having a go but honestly I was just a little paranoid that he would break it. I had worked hard on making it and I know he did as well but still it was my idea.

"I made it too" he argued back, I hadn't planned on him thinking of that

"It was my idea" I started to raise my voice pointing to myself

"If it weren't for me you would have never met him you would have ran away and left him" we had started an argument and it seemed like it would possibly be a long one. I was about to yell back at him when the ground burst and sprayed in our faces small bits of dirt going into my mouth. Spitting out the dirt I looked around when the dust that had risen settled and I spotted toothless sitting facing us. I stared at him stupidly for a few moments before looking away and staring at the ground where a miniature crater had been formed the dirt beneath looking slightly charred. Scowling slightly I looked at the dragon who was trying to look innocent, eyes looking like jade green orbs

"You shot fire at us didn't you?" I accused my voice strangely calm he nodded slowly

"And why did you do that?" Arden spoke before I could, he didn't answer not that he could so I tried to fill it in

"Did you think that if you did that you'd shock us and stop our argument?" He nodded his head reminding me of a child who had been caught stealing a sweet "don't look so guilty toothless you stopped us having a big fight and I guess he can have a little go if he promises not to break it" I looked at him pointedly as I kicked the dirt that had been scattered by the small fire toothless shot, a wide grin spread across his face as he pulled me into a hug. Hugging him back I was slightly surprised by how happy he was.

"Thanks lass" he let go of me much to relief as he had been squeezing me a lot

"No problem I guess, besides you might be able to stay on and actually keep the fin open so he can fly while I change a saddle into a harness for him" from the look in his eyes I knew what he wanted to ask "if he doesn't mind then yes you can fly him now" looking at him toothless nodded swinging his tail forwards

"You know now that I think about it, it doesn't seem as fun as I thought"

"Are you scared? I didn't think you got scared" I taunted him slightly enjoying the fact that I knew he would do the typical thing people like him did

"I'm not scared and I'll prove it" as he marched past me I couldn't keep the smirk off my face as he walked round toothless trying to get him to keep his tail still. Like yesterday he kept moving it but unlike yesterday this wasn't because he was eating but because he was wagging his tail like a dog would because he was happy to be able to go flying again.

I blocked out his annoyed grumbling as he tried to stop the dragon's swishing tail. Instead wandering around a little smiling slightly as I saw him threaten toothless who looked to be getting impatient despite the fact that it was his fault they weren't flying in the first place. Focusing on them I almost laughed at his pleading voice

"Toothless please will you just sit still" surprisingly he stayed still like he was asked allowing Arden to climb onto the tail opening the fin we had forgotten to take off. I was relieved that it hadn't broken during the night. "You know I can't wait for that saddle" he muttered but I still heard him and smirked at his words "Sarah you know we have to train him to fly on a word or something cos I don't know how to fly him. But of course he worked perfectly for you. Talk about favouritism" I couldn't hold back a laugh at that before motioning to toothless to fly off while he was off guard.

A wide gummy smile appeared on the black dragon's face as he spread his wings getting ready to take off. A scream like the one I had made yesterday escaped his lips as toothless flew off beating his wings to gain height as quickly as possible

"Not funny Sarah!" He yelled down to me. I saw his hands grabbing the fin forcing it open, I couldn't stop giggling the entire time he was screaming but after a few more minutes of terrified screams he seemed to get the hand of it, somewhat. Toothless tilted his wing circling the cove, as much as I hated to admit it he was doing better than me, only slightly though.

I don't know how much longer it was till he lost control but it wasn't long after his newest turn was he thrown from him. I thought he was going to land in the lake like I did but instead he was propelled towards me. My eyes widened when he was screaming towards me it occurred to me that he was heading straight for me and would tackle me if I didn't move. As I was about to run I was swiped off my feet landing on top off him and managing to get a small pained sound from him. I sat on him stupidly not moving though I could feel him trying to squirm out from under me.

"Sarah please move you're crushing me" his voice snapped me out of my trance like state and I jumped from him I grabbed his arm pulling him up as toothless swam back over. Seemed he knew how to land properly even without us helping him with the new tail.

"Sorry" I apologised quickly dusting him off he looked annoyed but never said anything. Toothless shook himself off once he was out of the water, I hadn't been paying much attention meaning we were both soaked. I dragged my hand down my face removing the water which smelled like fish. I looked over to him seeing he had caught one when he had splashed down. Rolling my eyes I shook my head "well done you managed to catch your own food for once" I sounded sarcastic but I was actually proud of him, he was still self-sufficient despite his tail.

"Does anyone know the time?" Arden asked before adding "I don't know why I said that you're the only one I'd be able to understand" I shook my head at him before asking

"Don't you know after all you did tell me it was nearly nine a bit ago?" He smiled slightly before telling me. "You know that yesterday you were thrown into the lake while you were flying?" I nodded "well I should have learned from you and took my phone out of my pocket and now it's completely ruined" to prove his point he pulled his phone out of his pocket the water from the lake dripping from the screen which you could see was flooded. I grimaced trying to look as sympathetic as I could but I just wanted to laugh.

It had never really occurred to me how much more comfortable I was around him, in the past I would have been a stuttering idiot who has humiliating hiccupping fits while trying to speak to him to try and say something that didn't sound hurtful. Now I just wanted to call him the idiot and make jokes about him till he turned red in either anger or embarrassment, preferably both. I scratched toothless' head in a silent thank you to the dragon if it weren't for him I would still be that girl and Arden would still hate me.

"Make fun of me later will you now let's just go to the shop or something." I looked at him worriedly this was my first day off when I didn't deserve it he must have seen it as well "not the shops then, what about yours is your dad in?" I shrugged my shoulders in an I don't know while quietly thanking god for not making me go to the shop. "Let's go see then" he seemed surprisingly happy as he wrung out his shirt, reminding me of myself yesterday.

I scratched toothless' head before scanning the cove, I didn't have a reason to I just wanted to see if I could see what he used to amuse himself when we weren't there. There wasn't anything except a few burnt patches of earth which I could only guess was a makeshift bed.

"Ok let's go to mine, but I am not wasting time. We are working when we get there" I could see he looked annoyed but I didn't really care I just wanted to make something for toothless so he wasn't as bored as he must have been when we weren't here.

"As long as it isn't school work I will do anything you want" he did a good job at hiding the annoyance in his voice as he spoke clapping his hands as he shook his head throwing water in all directions. He patted the dragon's nose before walking to the exit to the cove. "Coming?" He asked looking at me I laughed slightly to myself as I started to follow him to the exit.

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	20. Chapter 20

I was so nervous as we walked through the woods. I half expected my dad or the teachers from school to pop out from the shadows or the branches of the trees and drag us to school. At one moment I was so anxious I felt like the police would show up.

He must have noticed my jittery behaviour as he grabbed my hand leading me through the woods; whenever I slowed or looked around out of nerves he would give my hand a reassuring squeeze. It helped more than he could know. We walked in silence but it wasn't the awkward kind but a comfortable one, we didn't need to talk to fill in the silence we could just relax and take in our surroundings.

I felt so content as we walked through a particularly dense section of trees watching the birds in the trees which weren't usually there when we came by.

"What are you looking at?" He asked as he followed my eyes to see what I was.

"Nothing really just the scenery" I answered looking at a small family of birds. He shook his head and by the look on his face I could tell he thought I was being crazy. After a while we arrived at the path that took us to the edge of the village. I felt a little shaky about going in, still convinced that we would be caught as soon as we passed the line of trees. But I never voiced my worry knowing that he would say I was paranoid and I probably was being a little and allowed myself to be led through.

Much to my amazement we weren't grabbed by school teachers and police and anything else my mind had come up with, instead we walked through and not a soul was there, the place looked deserted nothing like it usually did. I could only put it down to being because everyone was at school or work; it made me think that maybe when he faked being ill in the past he would see this and if it made him feel slightly strange as well. I didn't have much time to really think though cos I found myself being dragged away

"Come on then let's get this over with at your place cos I wanna do something fun" I didn't answer instead nodding. "Stop panicking will you it's not that bad everyone at school will think we're ill and as long as we plan properly our parents will be none the wiser" he was trying to reassure me that all would be fine but I knew something bad would happen, something had to. "Lighten up" he shook his head as he continued to drag me; he clearly thought I was being over dramatic.

"Lighten up, you lighten up, I'm light I could float I'm so light" I insisted as I started waving my free hand around in the air to empathise my point which I wasn't too clear on what it was. He clamped his hand over my mouth stopping me from continuing if anything else popped into my head.

"You're panicking stop it nothing is going to happen. I promise" I felt myself calm down considerably when he looked into my eyes as he spoke. Not really sure why I wanted to I pulled him into a quick hug

"Thanks" I smiled slightly to him, so I didn't have to try to explain my sudden action I started to walk again pulling him this time.

I dragged him all the way to my house not letting him talk; I was so preoccupied with not letting him talk that I had completely forgotten that my dad could be home. It wasn't till he pulled me back into him by a sharp tug that I looked at him and let him talk

"Ok you can act as weird as you want cos you're panicking slightly right now but have you even checked to see if he is in or not?" I froze as it dawned on me I could have barged in there Arden being dragged behind and my dad could be there and more often than not when I'm at school Gobber's there too.

"Look in that window will you" I pointed to one that was on the side of the house as he tried to walk away he stopped half way looking back at me, he rose an eye brow expectantly. "What?" I asked oblivious he looked down then back up, following his eyes I saw I was still holding his hand. Retracting my hand I held it to my chest and from the heat in my face I knew I was blushing badly. He just shook his head turning to follow out the job I had given him.

I tapped my foot as I waited for him; I wasn't the most patient person today and it was clear as I tapped out a tune to try to keep myself entertained. When he came back a smile was on his face

"The lights are off" he explained and it took a few seconds for me to understand why that was good

"That could mean he slept in which doesn't sound like him or he's out" I crossed my fingers that it was the latter. I motioned for him not to move as I tried the door; I found it was locked which gave me hope that I was right and he was out. Checking my pockets I found no keys sighing in annoyance I knew I would have to play robber again. "Are any of the windows open?" I asked I wanted to get something from my house I didn't know what it was but I knew I'd know once I saw it

"All the bottom windows are locked but I did see and open one on the second floor" I looked at him gobsmacked

"Are you serious?" I asked. He smirked before answering

"No you idiot I think the one you wanted me to look through was open" scowling at him I punched his upper arm before storming past him to test the window. I could hear him laugh as he followed me but I ignored him.

The window was closed but I didn't think it was locked. Grabbing the window I tried to force it open only succeeding with opening it a fraction. Letting out an annoyed growl type noise I looked at Arden expectantly.

"Fine I'll help you" he sighed like I had just asked him to do an impossible task. Placing his hands on the window he too pushed and even with us both pushing it didn't move an inch just squeaked slightly "what is wrong with your window?" He asked as he stopped trying to force it open

"There's nothing wrong with the window" I stated

"Clearly which is why it's still closed and all we've managed to do is make a gap big enough for a mouse and it sounds like one too"

"Stop picking on the window" I stated I didn't really care I just wanted to annoy him, he shook his head apparently guessing what I was doing

"You're thin try to squeeze through" he motioned for me to move and climb through with the window

"You're being insane, I may be thin-ish but I can't fit through that" I pointed at the window as though that would empathise my point

"Just try I want to go do something fun and I can't do that if you don't even try" looking at him with an exasperated sigh I tried to squeeze through. I could barely get my foot through let alone the rest of me. As though trying to help he pushed on my back, he did help a little and I felt myself drop further and further through the window. As I was being forced I heard a creek and the window gave way swinging open.

From the force of him pushing me I practically flew through the window, grabbing his hand in a futile attempt at stopping myself I felt him come away from the floor and fly through the window with me. We landed in a heap on the floor

"Ow" I muttered rubbing my head which I had banged on the floor

"Mind getting up" I heard something say, looking around slightly bemused I couldn't see where the noise came from. Shrugging my shoulders I played it down to my mind making voices until I felt a tap on my side. Looking down I saw who I was sitting on; jumping up I pulled him up with me

"Sorry completely forgot you were there" I admitted he let out a half sigh half laugh as he ruffled his hair setting it back in place.

"I guess that makes it fine?" He asked practically seeing the sarcasm lacing his voice. I rolled my eyes not wanted to have an argument "mind telling me what we're looking for?"

I shrugged "I'm not sure but I was thinking a toy of some sort. Maybe something we can make a toy out of" I wasn't really sure what I wanted but I knew I wanted something to stop him being bored.

"A toy? I got sat on to find a toy?" He asked incredulously smiling slightly I saw him sigh over dramatically "fine. Let's get this over with"

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	21. Chapter 21

We spent a long time looking for anything that could double as a toy I had thought of old stuffed animals I had not played with since I was six but quickly decided against that when I remembered he was a dragon not a puppy. I doubted he would want to play with my peppa pig doll.

"You know I had a cat when I was younger" I looked from the back of the couch where I had spent the last tem minutes looking for anything.

"Oh and that's important why?" I asked

"Well she liked chasing things do you think toothless would like to do that too?" I thought about it for a second before shrugging

"I have no idea and even if he did I don't have a piece of string long enough for a dragon to chase"

"I don't mean string. We had this laser pointer that she loved and I think it may be somewhere in my house still. We could go there and try to find it." Standing up properly I walked out from the back of the couch

"What if he doesn't like to chase things?" I asked

"Doesn't really matter if he does we can just cross it off the list of possible toys for him and move on. Either way we'll have a better idea of what he likes and what he doesn't" Taking a moment to think it through I nodded

"Ok why not, we'll go there in a few minutes and after I promise we can do something you deem as fun" with my promise he started to look around again.

"If we are going to look shouldn't we look everywhere? In other words not just downstairs, but also upstairs where your toys may be. For example your room." I smiled slightly at him before agreeing and leading the way to my bedroom, where he would discover the extent of my dad's insane obsession with overcompensating for his absence using toys.

"What the hell?" He asked as I opened the dresser I had renamed toy prison.

"Yea I know it's bad. Worse than I remember it actually"

"This is what I would expect a five year old to have not an eleven year old" he told me sounding a mixture of shocked and impressed. "Why don't you just throw them out haven't you had them for years?"

"Well yes I have had a lot of them for years but most of them I got a few weeks before I met toothless and you and I became friends. Plus I can't throw them out or my dad would be upset and some of them were from my mum" I explained before quickly changing the subject before I started to cry from remembering my mum "so any of these seem right for a dragon?" I had tried to mask the sadness in my voice but even I could tell I had failed

"I'm guessing that he wouldn't love them. Probably burn them." He answered not asking why I was upset after probably guessing what it was.

"Yea you're probably right. Well come on let's go to yours" I tried to sound more upbeat than I had a moment ago and I had done so somewhat.

"Come on then I'll lead the way" walking to the door of my room I watched him leave, sliding the drawer closed slowly so I didn't trap a stuffed foot I followed him out, smiling slightly to myself as I followed.

"Just so you know there's a fifty, fifty chance my mum is home" he mentioned as we arrived at the top of his road. Placing my hand on his shoulder I turned him

"What? Why didn't you say before we left?!" I asked somewhat panicked

"I thought you would panic" he admitted

"Well obviously"

He laughed at me "relax. If she is home then we can go do something fun instead" as he was about to start walking I stopped him with a sudden thought

"If she's home and the school phone to ask where you are and if you're ill then she will know you skipped school and you'll be grounded forever" looking at me I could tell he knew I was right and it was worrying him

"I need to see if my mum's home" as he ran I also added

"She might think you were kidnapped as well"

"Why would she think that?" He yelled back but once he had he stopped realising that if someone came out to see why there was yelling we would get caught

"Because you didn't go home last night" I explained

"Oh right forgot about that" he admitted as he walked towards his house instead of running so I could catch up.

"Well this'll be fun" I muttered to myself

"What? Why?"

"Because my dad might think I was kidnapped and your mum might. So it'll be fun to see who gets the worst punishment you or me I guess you" he let out a sigh running his hand through his hair

"We shouldn't have let that dragon keep us" I heard him grumble looking at him I saw he was only joking

"You know you could never say no to him"

"Yea you're probably right" we were outside his house but the curtains were closed not letting us sneak a peek in and see if she was home. I let out a small sigh as we crept closer to the window making sure to keep quiet in case she was there; if we were silent we had a better chance of her not hearing us. I knew she didn't like me but I had no idea why, I guessed it was because no one really liked me here well except for Arden, now.

As I walked towards the window I saw we had both unconsciously crouched down, I smirked as it occurred to me that we must look like we were robbing the place. Reaching the front door he leant against the wood; he looked a little stupid but I guessed he was trying to see if he could hear anything.

"I don't hear her in there" he whispered as he pushed down the handle gently only to find it sticking when he pushed against the door. "This is a good sign, she's out" he added as he stood up fishing around in his pocket "I think I have a key on me" he whispered still not convinced that she was out. Not wanting to talk too loud to annoy him because he was still being cautious I nodded at him waiting for him to find the allusive key.

Pulling out the silver key he looked at me a smile on his face "found it" slipping the key into the lock he turned it slowly, it was supposed to make less of a sound but it ended up looking like he was trying to pick the lock. I didn't want to say anything so I stood back till he swung open the door still crouched down so he was almost sitting on the floor.

"Will you stand up?" I finally asked "you look like a mental patient" looking up from where he had been staring he smiled slightly before pushing himself up.

"Ow, fine I'll stand but you just took all the fun out of it" rolling my eyes I followed him in

"I don't think she's here. Maybe she's at the police?" I joked still stuck on the whole our parents think we've been kidnapped

"Maybe" he answered making me freeze

"You really think that could happen?" I asked as I grabbed his shoulder turning him around so he had to look at me, he smirked at me shrugging his shoulders before walking off again.

"Stop taking so long will you I wanna do something fun and the only way I can do that is if I get that laser pointer" he seemed convinced now that she was out so he spoke in a normal tone. Sulking slightly I wandered in looking for the light switch, it wasn't very dark but I didn't want to risk us being seen if we opened the curtains to let in the morning light.

Spotting the small switch I flicked it on light filling the room faster than I could blink. "Ow" he grumbled as I looked over at him silently asking what was wrong "I was looking up when you tuned it on I think I'm going blind" he whined as he rubbed his eyes I was going to taunt him for being so overdramatic but I found I couldn't, I almost wanted to comfort him even though nothing was wrong. I shook my head at how stupid I sounded and went over to him patting his back in a slow sarcastic way so I could keep what little pride I had and still do what I wanted. "Thanks Sarah, come on let's go upstairs to find the laser I think it's in a bag somewhere in my room, there or my mums but if it is there be careful she hates people being in her room and she's like a hawk when it comes to people being in her room. I swear she found out I went in there this one time because I left a dip in a pillow." I smirked at him as I followed him to his room.

I felt slightly awkward but I ignored that feeling I was only here for toothless. As I was led into his room I made sure not to look around and go through his things. I really wanted to but I couldn't it was his room and I knew I would be upset if I saw him shifting through my things. Dropping to the floor he slipped half under the bed. I was going to ask him what he was doing till I heard things moving around; that was when I realised he must have stuffed the laser under the bed, if he still had it that is. After a few minutes of nothing but me tapping my foot impatiently I heard what sounded like an ah, before he came back out a bag in his hand.

"That's not a laser but a bag" I stated as though he was insane

"I know that inside" he pointed to the plastic bag dropping it onto the bed then sitting next to it. "I remember my mum said that we'd get another cat when ours died so I kept all the toys in a bag and hid them under my bed. We never did get another but still I haven't gotten around to throwing anything out. Good luck ain't it?" Ripping the plastic to get to the toys instead of undoing the knot he scattered them across the floor as he dug around for the laser.

I have no idea how long I waited for him to find the laser but I knew I was bored. "Found it" he shook me so I would look at him. He was holding a small silver tube a tiny black button on the side. Pressing it down he shone the red light in my eyes.

"Arden" I complained as I blocked my eyes from the horrid light.

"What?" He asked innocently as he took it from my eyes, I could hear him standing up from the bed so I lowered my hand from shielding my eyes. "Come on let's go to toothless try this out then we can do something fun" walking past me I added

"We could fly him"

"Not a chance that was terrifying I am never going on that dragon again, you can but you'll be insane to do so"

I smirked at him muttering "baby" under my breath. Thankfully he didn't hear me.

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	22. Chapter 22

Once we left the house I had nagged him to lock the door and even after insisting he had we were forced to walk all the way back to the house to double check only to discover he hadn't really locked it.

"I said I was sorry" Arden repeated for what must have been the hundredth time.

"I know but I'm still annoyed, you called me paranoid and as it turned out I was right to be" I retorted my arms crossed over my chest. I was only being more stubborn than usual because I was bored and I wanted to annoy him, he deserved it as well for calling me paranoid. I had even proved that I had every right to be.

"How many more times do I have to tell you I'm sorry?" He asked as he ran forwards to walk in step with me

"I'll let you know when you get there" I answered smirking on the inside as he groaned in annoyance

"Girls" he muttered making me laugh at him, but only quietly. Otherwise he would think I had forgiven him, which I had I was never actually angry.

After a few minutes of walking we made it back to the border of the woods. I stared at them remembering that I had had quite a few falls in there most of them occurring from collisions with Arden. I hated when that had happened I always felt so humiliated when I would look up into his big eyes full of concern; like a small child when he would hold out a hand to me to pull me up. Though they weren't the only times I had fell of course, I was quite clumsy I never managed to make it more than a week without falling flat on my face. It had even turned into a game at one point, if I could guess when I would fall I would indulge myself in something I loved though I couldn't fall purposefully.

"You ok you've been out of it for some time?" I shook my head at the unexpected voice and turned to the source of the sound, raising a brow I silently asked what he had asked of me. "You've been daydreaming for so long" he told me as we walked into the woods, we had been stood still while I was stuck in my head, I blinked at him a few times before talking

"Sorry I was just thinking about something. But it's not important" I instantly regretted saying that because he did what every normal human does

"What was it?" Letting out a sigh I asked myself how stupid I could be. Seemed I could be very. Deciding to try to sidestep the question I tried to be vague

"I was thinking about the woods and us" I inwardly cringed at how stupid that was; looking over at him I could see his face was bright red and he looked a little bemused. In order to keep this from staying on me; and me putting my foot in my mouth again I laughed at him as his face looked like he had awful sunburn.

"Oh shut up will you" he tried to sound angry at me but I could tell he was just embarrassed and was trying to do what I was and keep this off himself, but as I knew what he was trying to do, I didn't fall for it and kept on laughing.

Once we finally made it to the cove I looked over at him, he had been in a huff for the past ten minutes refusing to look me in the eye and having his arms crossed over his chest indignant. "Cheer up will you we're there" I tried to gain his attention though he pretended I wasn't there. I had to think of a way to get him to look at me so I clicked the little button on the light in my hand. It had originally been in his pocket but I had taken it from him a few minutes before and because he wasn't going to talk to me he didn't say anything to stop me from taking it. Sometimes I loved a man's foolish pride. Clicking the button again I shone it in his eyes for a second before turning it off, he glared at me for a second before going back to ignoring me.

I rolled my eyes at how stubborn he was and shone it in his eyes again, I was determined to get him to talk to me even if it was only a grumbled whine. This time though he just closed his eyes shaking his head, seemed he knew what I was trying to do. Damn it. I kept shinning it in his eyes every couple of seconds and after a while I could see it was starting to work. He looked very annoyed at me before finally saying, well snapping

"Will you stop that? You're being mean to me today and don't blame it on skipping school cos this isn't the first time we have and I don't believe this is the first time you faked being ill" I wished I had left him to sulk. Scowling at him I turned away from him sticking my head into the air to show I was upset. I could almost feel his smirk in the back of my head as I started to walk away from him. I could have sworn I heard a laugh to accompany that as well.

Walking into the cove I refused to look at him as I walked over to the sleeping dragon who was curled up on a patch of scorched earth. Standing over him I watched as he breathed softly, eyes closed and lip twitching showing that he was dreaming. I smiled at him as he flicked his tail on the ground. Crouching down in front of him I reached out and stroked his head making him crack open one of his own eyes, he looked up at me and seemed only slightly irritated. He blinked a little and opened his eyes fully, I smiled down at him.

"We have a present for you" I whispered seeing his ears perk slightly in curiosity. Standing up I motioned for him to follow, pushing himself up he stretched out looking like an oversized cat. I smirked at him as he looked over at Arden, he tilted his head in confusion as he stood a few feet back arms crossed over his chest. I rolled my eyes and answered with a simple word "boys" he seemed to understand, much to my amazement, and nodded his head plodding lazily over to the stubborn boy. He seemed a little logged with sleep. I watched as he looked down on the dragon, staring at him a little irritated but we could both tell the irritation was directed at me not him.

"Yes toothless?" He asked as he tried to stop showing his irritation as clearly as he was. Not saying anything the dragon walked around him using his large head to push the boy, moving him closer to me. With us only a few feet apart I couldn't help looking him in the eye while he glared back at me. It seemed a little stupid him being so mad over me not telling him one simple thing. I watched silently as they exchanged a few glances with toothless, he seemed to be fighting the dragon in a battle of wills. Whoever cracked first under the pressure that was being dealt the battle of will. "You know this is getting tedious, I never thought I would see this when I woke up." I could hardly keep a straight face as he spoke

"I know what you mean I'm sorry if I upset you though if I'm honest I have no idea as to what I had done but whatever I have done I am sorry" I looked across at him waiting to see if I could get a response. After a few minutes I had been hoping for what would have been a mythical dream in the past, now I saw it as more of a formality for him to answer me as he had kept me waiting he sighed before turning from toothless and coming over to me.

"That's fine, I guess, but really I was just being a baby. So you didn't want to tell me one thing. If I'm honest with you the only reason I was so upset about you not answering me was because I thought that maybe that nothing was really another boy coming to the woods with you" he was going to stop there but I pressed him for more by raising a brow, I wanted to hear more from him, to make it my mythical dream "I was a little jealous" and there it was. I looked at him with a smirk on my face. He scowled slightly at me as he pushed my shoulder turning away "don't look so smug will you, I only said a little" I would have retorted if it wasn't for my wanting to move onto toothless. I was impatient to know if he would like it, he probably wouldn't but I just had to know.

Showing him the small laser I watched amused as he neared me looking at the small case tilting his head in curiosity. I smiled at him as he nudged it with his nose moving back quickly as it made a slight noise. I would have laughed but I wanted to keep as quiet as I could so he would try again. It took a few moments for him to try again but when he did it seemed very promising. He sniffed at the casing and didn't jump back like he had before when it made another noise, getting a little impatient I decided to rush things a little and shine the light just in front of him, stationary so he wouldn't be too freaked out. Clicking the tiny button I watched as toothless' face didn't stray from my face. Sighing internally I saw I would have to persuade him a little.

"Toothless? What's that on the floor?" I asked motioning towards the small beam of light, his eyes moved from me to the floor obviously curious, his ears perked as he saw the ray of light and after a moment he pounced, reminding me awfully of a cat. He dived on the light clasping his paws over the light though, obviously, it didn't capture the ray, he looked perplexed by this and tried to recapture it with his bottom paw, stacking them one above the other. Shaking my head slightly at him I moved the light away from his paws back to the ground, looking from his paws he seemed a little stunned before he jumped back up, crouching down, ready to pounce again. Seemed he did like the toy, I could have a little fun before he wanted his turn. I just hoped I could play with him for more than a little while.

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	23. Chapter 23

I hadn't been keeping the time on how long I was playing with him, but it barely seemed more than a few minutes before Arden started to whine that I was hogging the toy and that I never let him do things he wanted. It may have been me but I just wanted to play for a little while longer. I knew I couldn't though if it was him using the toy and me bored them I'd become a bit of a hypocrite if I told him to let me have go and not let him now. So despite really not wanting to, I brought him down from the tree he was climbing to chase the light and stopped it before Arden and throwing him the toy.

I could see he saw how much I hated to do that and instead of being polite he did something I'd never thought I would see, he stuck his tongue out at me. I scowled at him suddenly wishing I had been a hypocrite and left him to sulk. Now I was the one sulking with him playing with the dragon. I watched as he made him chase the beam across the ground he kept attempting to pounce on the ray but it was always just out of his reach. He didn't seem to get bored with the constant chase it made him seem a little simple despite the fact that I knew he was very intelligent.

I was through with sulking now and motioned for him to move the light to the lake, he smirked as he understood what I meant and moved the beam of light over to the liquid surface. Pausing for a second he allowed toothless to get as close as he liked and just as the dragon was pouncing he moved the light to the centre of the lake. Toothless landed short, obviously, and scowled at the ground before scanning the area for where it could have gone. His eyes froze on the water and a smirk came on his face showing all his teeth which had come out some time during the chase.

Crouching back down he sprang from his spot, his claws out as he prepared to capture the light. He seemed oblivious to the lack of solid surface beneath him. As soon as he landed the water dispersed and the plan we had formulated backfired as the water made a b-line straight for us soaking us to the bone. My scowl was now back full force, I glared at the dragon who was looking perplexed as he swam around the lake looking for the light, though that was now gone as we were soaked and not really bothered with having an oversized cat chasing light.

I shook my head, the water dropping from my hair flying off and I felt slightly better when they splattered against Arden, though he didn't seem quite as happy about that. I looked over to toothless who was still intent on finding that light; it amazed me on how stupid he was. It was a little beam of light from a laser pointer, made for cats. "I wanna go home" he complained as he wrung out his shirt, I nodded at him letting out an agreeing noise. I was definitely not going to fake ill again, if this was what I had to expect I would take my chances at school with Sally and Ruffnut. As I turned from toothless I walked over to Arden.

"Can you promise me something?" I asked as I too started to wring my shirt.

"Yea what is it?" He asked me taking his eyes off the puddle that was forming below him, I waited till he met me in the eye

"Promise we'll never have to fake ill again, this is far too stressful for me, if you ever want to skip school again, it's either near the end of school or on your own" he laughed slightly at me.

"Yea ok then Sarah, I promise that we won't fake ill again" I hid the smile that was threatening to break out as it registered to me that he had said that we wouldn't fake ill again instead of saying he would go on his own. Not really sure why I did what I did, I pulled him into what was supposed to be a quick hug. I wrapped my hands around his neck and as I was about to pull back and apologise for being so stupid I felt him start to hug me back. I was shocked to say the least but I didn't say anything, whether that was from shock I wasn't sure but I just remained quiet till he broke the unplanned hug.

Arden's POV

I don't know what was going through my mind when she hugged me but I do know that I hugged her back. I hadn't even realised I was hugging her till I went to tell her to let go and realised I was the one keeping her there. I tried not to stiffen at the knowledge so I didn't make her worry but I had no idea what I should do. Do I break the hug? Wait for her too? This was very confusing so I decide to wait it out till she breaks the hug, but that could take a while.

It seemed like forever before she started to ease out of the hug and I tried to not seem too relived once we were separated. It was more from embarrassment than anything, it wasn't that I didn't want to hug her, wait that doesn't sound right. I just don't want her to get any ideas, like me kissing her didn't form any.

"Uh sorry" I tried though it was her who started the hug I felt I should apologise, I just wish it didn't sound as awkward to her as it did to me,

"No uh I'm sorry" seemed I had failed she sounded just as awkward. I rubbed the back of my head not sure what to do, I turned back to the lake expecting to see the dragon swimming in circles looking for the light but he was gone. I squinted slightly thinking I had simply overlooked the dragon. It hadn't really registered with me that I couldn't overlook a massive black flying creature. At least I didn't think I could.

As I strained my eyes to look at the water thinking he might have gone under I felt something on my back. At first I ignored it thinking my mind was playing tricks on me but I was nudged harder pushing me forwards and making me yelp a little in surprise. Turning I saw that toothless had gone behind me. How a thing that big could move silently was beyond me. I scowled down at the soaking wet dragon, water dropping from his ears, he sat down staring up at me. I looked at him confused before turning back to Sarah.

"What is wrong with him?" I asked her hoping she could shed some light on it for me.

"I think he wants to get a hug" she answered making me shift my scowl to her. It wasn't the time for jokes, I was far too wet and cold to find anything funny. "Oh come on don't be so grumpy, I'm not exactly pleased with this myself, my clothes were barely dry from the last time he soaked us but you being mardy isn't going to help any"

"Since when did you become a counsellor?" I asked though I couldn't keep a smile off my face, how a little comment like that could cheer me up was lost on me.

"I'm not one but that isn't the point, come on help me persuade him to let me have another fly" I noted how quickly she changed the topic but I didn't dwell on it instead agreeing. It would be easier to let her do what she wanted; besides I would be happy to let her fly on him as long as I didn't have too.

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	24. Chapter 24

Before we started to persuade a dragon to let her fly she insisted that we turn it into a bit of a game, I thought that would be fine at first but it turned out she wanted to become spies in a way, she wanted to sneak up on him and make him fly from shock. I wasn't sure why she wanted to do that but as it turned out I didn't even have to ask, she told me as we hid behind a dead tree. One that was living yesterday. She told me that she wanted to get better at staying on his tail and the best way to do that was to take things to the extreme. Her words. I found it a little bizarre but didn't object to her suggestion.

I was to keep his attention while she snuck up on him. Maybe this could turn out to be fun? I started over to him noting that I was a little redundant; he had his back to us drinking from the lake. She seemed to be taking it very seriously creeping over to him, bent over as she tiptoed. I smiled over to her; I can't believe I didn't used to like her.

While he was drinking from the lake I dropped down beside him, not the best spot as I would most likely get kicked into the water. He looked up at me nodding his head and eyeing me a little suspiciously.

"Hi" I greeted lifting my hand from my shin and waving it slightly, he nodded again before going back to ignoring me. I felt extremely awkward just sitting there watching him but didn't say anything just watching as she crept closer to him, I smirked at how serious she was being and I couldn't stop staring at her. How this was fine with me confused me greatly, to anyone else this would have been extremely weird.

Seemed she was beginning to rub off on me. I used to think she was a bit of a freak and when we were children I used to avoid her at all costs because I thought she had a problem and that I would catch it off her. Now it seemed I had caught it off her, and I didn't care. I was far too happy to care, seeing the world how she sees it makes me wish I had become like her a long time ago. She was carefree, most of the time, at school and from what I could see at home she wasn't carefree. I couldn't blame her for that though. She had had a hard time at school, which as much as I now hate to admit I did contribute to that.

I wasn't very kind to her over the years, and I did push the other kids a little to pick on her all the more. That guilt hadn't left me since we became friends. While I was in thought I felt something smack me in the face, without a chance to stop myself and stunned from shock of the unexpected hit I was thrown backwards, my already wet shirt and hair being re-soaked in the freezing water of the lake. The sun hadn't been heating it very much; it wasn't as strong as it usually was this time of year.

It took me a moment to push myself out of the water and rest on my hands looking up at the sky I knew what I would see; an insane girl flailing about on a black dragon's tail. I stared at them for a moment before a thought hit me. If I could see them does that mean others could too? If that was true then those people would be able to find him. Pushing myself to my feet I shook my head, the excess water flying away leaving it, still soaked but now it wasn't pouring off of my head. I took as deep a breath as I could; preparing myself to yell at her on the now somewhat calmer dragon.

"Sarah! I can see you! Get back down here, you absolute idiot!" I could see her turn to me but it seemed as though I wasn't loud enough as all she did was wave down at me. I ran my hands though my head and was on the verge of ripping it out. "Sarah! Come here! Now!" This time I pointed to the ground motioning for her to come down and trying to make it as clear as I possibly could. Finally after another turn on the tail she started to land aiming for the other side of the lake. Why had she done that? We never went to that side, I don't know why we never did but we just didn't. It was always avoided and I don't know about her but to me it was always toothless' little home, the place he could go if we weren't there and he wanted to be able to lie in the full gaze of the sun, I had only seen him lie like that once before, I think, and he looks like a cat. More than usual. I saw her grin sheepishly and give him what looked like an apology apparently she too had noticed just how stupid her plan was.

"So what is wrong with you? I was getting the hang of it. Look I didn't get thrown in to the water this time" she boasted as I started to run over to her, I would have to choose on whether or not I should be blunt.

"You're an idiot" I told her once we were face to face, I wasn't going to be vague, she was.

"What do you mean?" She asked aghast.

"You are an idiot" I stated again, drawing out the word, "I could see you" I motioned with my hand to show this.

"Yes I know I waved down to you" I closed my eyes taking a breath trying to remind myself that she wouldn't know

"If I could see you why not everyone else?" That made her pause looking over me like I was playing a cruel trick on her. I shook my head at her slowly, "I'm not playing with you, what reason would I have?" Her face changed and she looked almost mad, at me? I wasn't sure.

"That can't be right, if that is then those people, the ones who know about toothless could have seen me" she was mad at herself, she had no reason to be but I saw why.

"Yes I know that's why I called you back down, waving to me." I laughed a little at the last part which I added for myself. "We need to find a way for you to be able to hide, if we came up with something that could help you hold on to him better you could go up higher, and maybe after a little practice you could go above the clouds"

"That could work but how'd we do that? I could probably work something out but it'd be really hard. And how would we practice?" That last part I had an answer ready for

"We could practice at night." The rest I had no idea, but I'd leave it up to her to make something for him so she could ride him. She'd work something out, I knew she would she was smart, besides it was her who was going to ride him not me.

"I guess we could practice at night, that'd even help with the control, making it harder to fly him I could get better balance and control over his tail, but in the day at first" I nodded at the last part, she would have to do that, but we would have to find a safe place to take him, and we'd have to make it more possible for him to use his tail without shouts being sent to him. I could practically hear her shouting, left, left, right.

"I agree, we'll go looking for a better place later, then maybe after school, we go home, show that we haven't run away then I'll beg to come over, say it's about school work and we can figure it out then" she laughed at me and I intern scowled at her "what?" I asked completely confused

"You seriously think she'll let you go out, you're grounded aren't you?" I silently cursed to myself, I had forgotten about that, I had been having so much fun with her that I had forgotten about my grounding for the skipping of school when we were just becoming friends. "You forgot didn't you?" She asked slyly, she already knew the answer. She was just making me say it.

"Maybe" I relented giving her a none too serious glare.

"Knew it, don't worry though I'm sure you'll be able to talk your way around it" I smiled slightly at her confidence and I knew it wasn't false you could tell when she was lying, she had a few tells. I turned around to see where toothless was, he was quieter than usual, he was drinking from the lake looking at the fish swimming underneath the surface. I wondered if he was hungry, we would have to get him some food. That could be something to waste a little time. There wasn't much to do and I now wanted time to quicken so school would be over faster, that hadn't happened the last time I had skipped an entire day of school. She must have been rubbing off on me more that I was aware of.

"Come on I think we'd better get him some food" I suggested.

"Are you insane? Why would you suggest that now?! I can barely be here I'm still paranoid about getting caught and now I know that they could see me in the air, why would I venture back into the village?" She asked barely stopping herself from yelling and truth be told I had forgotten that she was so bad. I was amazed by that, why, how had I forgotten? Why had I suggested something, why had I told her about being visible? She'd be so much worse now. I placed my hands on her shoulders and gave her one sharp shake. "Ow" she complained but I wasn't bothered by that, I was just glad she wasn't still having a mild panic attack. I placed my hand over her mouth to stop her from talking and instead answered with what I hoped was something reassuring.

"If anything happens, and even though I'm sure nothing will, I will take the blame, I'll say I grabbed you and forced you to come with me" that had sounded a lot better in my head, now it seemed a little stupid.

"What lie would you tell them so they'd believe you forced me to come, the entire village knows, well knew, you pretty much hated me and they all do too." I felt a little sad at the admission at the end of her sentence, the first part wasn't too much of a concern I was always a good improviser. But the second part meant that she believed everyone hated her, I never saw it like that.

But to tell the truth I never really paid that much attention to her or her problems. I had my own problems that had greater importance to me. It didn't sound that good but it was before me and her became friends. I didn't care for her back then, I almost hated her. Did she think that I used too? I hoped she didn't I had never liked her in the past but I never hated her. I thought she was quirky. She always managed to make me laugh no matter what kind of day I had had, I used to seek her out on bad days to talk to her and watch her have a hiccupping fit. It made me smile. She would embarrass herself immensely and blush till she resembled a tomato.

"Doesn't matter just come on, I'll look after you" I grabbed her hand and waved a quick goodbye to the dragon. "We'll see you soon toothless, we're just going to get something" I called back to him not bothering to turn around to talk. If I did she'd just start to complain about me not having a worked out plan. "Bye toothless we'll see you with some nice fish just for you." I smirked at the emphasis on you. She obviously didn't wish to taste that food again. I didn't either.

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	25. Chapter 25

"Can we go back, I don't think he'll want to eat today" I sighed at hearing her thousandth excuse as to why we shouldn't go back to the village.

"It'll be fine, stop panicking, I told you I'd look after you and I will, honestly Sarah you panic too much" I chastised as I shook my head at her

"Panic too much? At least I know when to panic" she retorted and I span round to look her in the eye.

"Look, you'll be fine, tell me one actual reason for you to go back to the cove and I might consider it" I saw her pause at that, I had been thinking of that question for a while. I saw a look of realisation

"I know, where's that basket, I can go get it and you can go buy him food" it was my turn to pause now, I had no idea where it had gone

"Alright then, go get it, I'll go buy the food" she gave me a quick squeeze before running off, I stood slightly shocked. She was a lot less shy than she used to be. I tried to take my mind off her and move it to something more pressing. Did I have any money? I'd have to go and fetch some from home. Unless I shoplifted. I couldn't do that though could I? I didn't see any problem with it myself but Sarah would, I knew her quite well now and I knew that she'd have a problem with me stealing. If she never found out I could steal a few things, I could try to take a few things and not tell her. With my decision made I started to trek through the woods, towards the village and away from toothless.

I wandered through the forest with only mild knowledge of where I was going, I travelled through the woods often but I never paid too much attention to where I was going it was more for the exploration not for remembering. If I ever found anything interesting I would try to remember where I was going but other than that it was just mindless wandering. I ran a hand through my hair ruffling it slightly to let it settle in a more comfortable position. There wasn't much wind today, just enough to blow the leaves a little to form a small rustling sound.

I smiled at the peaceful sound, noting that I wouldn't have been able to enjoy this if Sarah was still with me. I liked her but she did panic quite quickly. I wondered if those people who knew about toothless had seen her, if they had then that'd be more than bad. They had managed to catch him, injure him to the point where he couldn't fly without help; they obviously had the means to kill him if they could do that. We would have to find a way to let him fly on his own, but that was much easier said than done, as I am never flying on him again and she had a strange mind.

I have no doubt that she will go way too far with an idea to make him independent again. She was quite predictable like that. I had still to decide if that was a good thing or not. I knew one thing for sure though, whatever she thought up it would be genius. She was a smart girl. I tried to take my mind off of her for a moment, it was harder than I thought, I went to my mum for a few minutes. She would kill me when I got home, if she hadn't already called the police to notify a missing child. I could imagine her back at home getting angrier by the second. A few weeks grounding would be the luckiest thing I could get right now, I'd most likely get my room stripped of everything but a mattress.

Then I had to think of my friends, what would they think? They would find out who I was skipping with, I wouldn't tell them but they'd find out eventually, thanks to the chain of mum that travelled through every house. They would probably go mental on me, skipping school all day with Sarah Haddock. And then there was the one thing I was actually scared about, Sally, I wasn't scared for myself. I was for Sarah. Sally pretty much hated her, I never knew why but she did. If she found out about our friendship then she'd lash out at Sarah. I didn't want her to get hurt; and if Ruffnut was told then things would be even worse for her.

I would have to beg Tuff to keep it secret for his sister and her friend. I knew I had a bit of control over Sally because she was a smitten kid but I wouldn't be able to have so much control over her to keep her off Sarah if she found out about our friendship. Oh god what if it slipped that I kissed her. I shook my head quickly, that wouldn't happen, no one knew of that. I was on the verge of hitting myself to get the worrying thoughts out of my head; I did manage to stop myself and substituted that for biting my lip. Now wasn't the time for that, I had to go buy a dragon some lunch. If my friends knew what I was doing they'd think I'd lost my mind. I was beginning to think I had myself.

I let out a breath and started running, if I was going to shoplift I had to run fast, if Sarah came back before I had I would have to go home and find some money. In other words I would have to steal some from my mum. She had a small little stash she thought I didn't know about, I did though, it was in the back of her room under a lamp. She had thought she was being smart by hiding it in the fake bottom of a lamp but I found it. It was quite obvious actually, she had used so much tape the lamp was unstable.

It must have taken me no less than fifteen minutes before I managed to get anywhere close to my house, and if it hadn't been for the stitch in my side practically murdering me I would have kept going. I dropped to the floor leaning against the brick wall behind me. I grabbed my side and turned to lay back onto the pavement, I pulled my knee up to my chest in an attempt to try to relieve myself of the stitch. I didn't know if it actually worked but the kids in the football team swore by it. I felt a little silly laying on the floor holding my leg but I was willing to try anything. A few seconds later, much to my surprise, the stitch started to ease and I felt I could stand back up and carry back on to my house I dusted off my clothes and started to walk.

Smiling at the woman who had just paused to stare at the mad kid lying on the floor; I mouthed a hi at her glad that neither I nor my mum knew her. I made my way down the road making sure no one else was around. Luckily for me it seemed all my friends had decided to stay at school today. Tuff was notorious for skipping three times a week at least. He would have no future once he left school, though with the amount that I've skipped I wouldn't be doing much better.

As I walked my stomach rumbled like mad. I was starving, I hadn't eaten all day and I was sure that Sarah had had nothing too. I was about to start running when it dawned on me. I had practically decided that I wasn't going to shoplift without even meaning to. "I could get the money as a just in case" I mumbled to myself. I nodded at my own words, I could do that, and I could get some food too. It would be a nice surprise for Sarah if I had something to give her. Especially as it won't be half eaten fish. I smirked at that, it seemed like months ago that that happened, we ate toothless' fish and got extremely ill from it. I was never eating that again just the thought of it made my stomach turn. Ridding myself of the thoughts in my mind I finally started running towards my house.

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	26. Chapter 26

The stitch had come back full force and I had my hand pressed against my side as it felt it would explode should I move it. I hadn't properly participated in PE at school for any lesson before and after the holiday and I was sure it showed. Too many days of lying in bed eating crisps.

"I swear, once I meet back up with Sarah, I am so making an exercise plan and she's following it too." I mumbled to myself, I had done a lot for her and I'm going to use that to make her do something I want to do. I laughed silently to myself, my mum always said compromise was part of a healthy relationship. Guess me and Sarah were going to do that.

It felt like forever till I was at my house and I couldn't be more grateful, I really had to start exercising. I made it to the front door and unlocked it far quicker than I had the last time. I was paranoid that my mum would be there but I already knew that she wouldn't be. She would be at work. I walked into the house and I closed the door softly behind my back. I paused momentarily just to make sure I couldn't hear even the slightest creak of the floorboards. After a few moments I sighed in relief, nothing. She was at work, I pushed off my shoes and walked into my house.

I wanted to turn the TV on, I had recorded something the last time I was here and I still hadn't watched it. I made myself turn away from the TV and start towards the stairs. I was going to steal a little of her money, not too much but just enough to buy her something along with myself. I had done it before and knew just how much to take, before I had taken too much and she had spent half an hour looking for the money in her room. When I had asked she said she had lost an earring. That was a blatant lie, she didn't even have her ears pierced. When she did find a ball of money (who it was from and why I hadn't found that before was still a mystery) she had looked a lot brighter and had claimed that she no longer needed the 'missing' earring.

I hadn't believed my luck when she found a mystery wad of notes and had made sure I could figure out how much was just enough so I wouldn't push my luck again. It was about five notes, they were all different ones. Some were twenty pounds some fifty but most were five and ten pounds. I wasn't sure what to take, maybe about thirty quid, I could always take a bit more and keep it for myself. I smiled to myself momentarily, I had been told countless times by friends from school that I'd end up in prison by the age of nineteen. They never specified what I would be in prison for but I had an idea that they thought steeling, and to be honest I couldn't blame them I was starting to think the same thing myself. I should probably stop doing it soon but I had to get some things for Sarah and as long as I had to get things for her I didn't mind stealing. It always made her smile when I got something we needed. As long as she didn't find out that stealing was how I got the things we needed I would keep doing it. Just so she'd smile.

I quickly shook that thought out of my head. What was wrong with me? It seemed that ever since I kissed her I had been focusing on everything she did. Remembering everything she did over the years, the years I barely noticed her and at one point in time, I'm ashamed to admit, thought she had moved away. It was only now that I realised that during that time she sat in front of me in lesson. I ran my hand through my hair. How could I have been that oblivious? It was no wonder she thought everyone hated her. I can admit that a lot of the school hates her, but not the adults, they don't like her because she unintentionally causes trouble for them but they'd never hate her. I felt so guilty at knowing that she felt I hated her and, though I hadn't meant to, over the years I had reaffirmed that belief.

I had to think of a way to fix that. I didn't know what I was going to do but I was going to do something to fix this. I took the money I needed and replaced the lamp back where it was. It took me about three tries to make it balance, I would have fixed the bottom of the lamp had my mum known that I knew of this place. Unfortunately I couldn't do that or I'd be grounded for eternity. I was probably going to be already, she was more than annoyed when I skipped half a day. Now I've cut the entire day and I'm with the daughter of a guy she hates. A smile came to my lips at that, but I quickly shook it away. It was stupid smiling for a few words that to anyone else would have just been that. But to me it made it sound almost like we were dating behind my mum's back.

That thought was what made me smile. I didn't know if it was the thought of going behind my mum that was what made me smile, kind of like forbidden love that are in all those romance stories. Stories I've never read but my mum loves them. Or if it was the thought of being with her in the whole. It would be slightly weird if it was that, I mean it wasn't as though we were dating. I did kiss her once but that was it, nothing else before or after.

I placed the money into my pocket and left the room. I'd have to hurry and get back to her, it wouldn't do any good if one of us got caught. It wouldn't do any good for me if she was caught, I'd never hear the end of it if she was, she was already paranoid. If she ended up being caught she could be taken out of school and if she wasn't I could bet any money that she'd be chained to it. Never able to go anywhere but school and home. I smirked at the image that came into my mind, she was tied to the school by handcuffs that acted like an extendable lead for a dog. Dragging her back whenever she strayed too far.

I couldn't help thinking that my mind was a little screwed up if that was the first thing that came to mind. I hoped she wouldn't be caught, if she was then I didn't know what I would do to save her. I could always blame myself for everything. I left my house no more than a minute later and started my way down the path. There wasn't anyone around but it felt almost like I was being watched. I turned from where I was stood and glanced down the street...no one. Just like I thought. I turned back around and couldn't stop the yelp of surprise that came from my lips.

There stood before me was a huge figure, it must have been about six and a half to seven foot tall. I looked up the huge body and saw someone who I recognised from the TV. What was his name? I thought for a moment before it clicked. James Dawson. I stared up at him, I opened my mouth not knowing what to say. "Hi" I mumbled knowing I sounded stupid.

"Hello, what're you doing out here? I didn't think school was out yet?" He asked me and I swallowed nervously.

"Uh yea it isn't I kind of skipped" I answered nervously.

"Go back to school kid, do that and I won't tell anyone about running into you" he told me and I stared up at him dumbstruck. I didn't know what to do so I just nodded. He must have thought I had left during break or something.

"Alright." I answered stupidly. I had no idea what I should say. He nodded at me and left me, turning and walking back down the road around the corner and out of my sight. I almost laughed, I wasn't going back to school. Instead I was going to take full advantage of what I was just given. I ran as quietly as I could to the end of the road and peaked around the corner. I saw just what I expected. He was there with another man dressed in black. They were talking hushed but I could still make out their words.

"Have we located the Night Fury yet?" The one who just spoke to me asked.

"Yes, we have. Daniel from the other group believes he's found a route towards the area he's hiding in. We should be able to get there and take it out." My jaw dropped. They couldn't have found toothless, could they?

"Excellent. We'll leave for there tonight, once everyone is in for the curfew. And I was meaning to congratulate you on that. It has made our job far easier without these pests around twenty-four seven. Is there anything else on the attack tonight?" I stared at him confused, attack? What attack?

"Yes, we believe that though it will be a small attack there will be one. Mainly Gronckle's we should be able to handle them no problem. My team and I will handle it for you Sir, you can give your full attention to the Night Fury." I saw the man I had just talked to nod.

"Good, leave now and form your plan for tonight. I'll go inform those who will be working with me tonight. Let's hope that we can take this Night Fury and move onto the next village. We'll kill all these dragons if it's the last thing we do."

"Yes Sir, let's hope. I'm sure we'll be victorious." The man who James was talking to nodded leaving the man I had been speaking with. Not a moment later he left too. I was the only one left on the road and it wasn't till after a few moments when I realised my mouth was hanging open. I have to find Sarah.

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	27. Chapter 27

I had to have looked like a mad man when I ran down the street, barrelling into mothers with their toddlers in prams. I would have shouted back an apology but I was in far too big a rush to do that. I couldn't think where she would be but I hoped that by sheer luck she'd still be in the woods trying to debate with herself on whether or not to leave the safety it offered. Knowing her as well as I did I doubted she'd step out of the tree line. Her dad had really instilled a fear of risk taking. I wasn't sure the reason but something in the back of my mind told me it had to do with her mother's death.

It would make sense if it was, I know I was affected when my granddad died in a plane crash. I have a fear of planes now and it was probably something that contributed to my resistance of flying on toothless. I smiled slightly at my revelation. I had never thought that was why I might be scared of planes. I had always just assumed that it was because I had an ingrained fear from natural instinct. Flying for humans was stupid. I carried on running down the paths towards the woods, I kept myself aware of the roads, I wasn't going to be idiotic and get myself run over.

I knew what would happen if I was, would I get sympathy, no. I would get Tuff laughing like crazy at me and Sally trying to wrap me in bubble wrap while taking the opportunity to try to kiss me. I shuddered at the thought of that. If she'd kiss me I'd probably die from anger and utter outrage. I turned down a path that led to the woods, I paid no attention to where I was going and slammed into a very moveable object. Instead of collapsing onto my back like I usually did when I collided into someone I fell straight down face first. Face first onto the person I collided with.

I couldn't see who it was but I knew it was a girl. I could tell that from the mass of hair that was now in my mouth. Spitting it out I brought a hand up to wipe my face, it tasted kind of like fish. I grimaced before wondering who would have fish smelling hair. It didn't occur to me that I was still on the girl.

"Uh, Arden, do you mind getting up? I'm being crushed." The voice made me snap from my thoughts and turn to the body beneath me. What I saw made a bright red blush cross my face. Sarah, I had landed on Sarah.

I scrambled to my feet pulling her up at the same time.

"Uh, s-sorry, I-uh didn't see you there" I admitted not looking her in the eye as she dusted herself down.

"Well at least we're even now." She mumbled so quietly I almost missed it.

"What was that?" I asked finally looking up and meeting her gaze.

"I fell on you a little while back now we're even." She pointed out making me smile. Yea, she did do that. And for a small girl she didn't half know how to crush a guy. I smiled at her, almost forgetting what I was supposed to be telling her.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Sarah, I ran into those guys who're looking for toothless. They think they can get to him tonight and that there'll be an attack on the village." She looked shocked at what I had to tell her and I just nodded in response. Telling her this was the truth. She was gaping at me not knowing what to say to me. I didn't know how to answer her stunned face so I just waited, placing my hands in my pockets.

"Uh, uh, w-what?" She finally managed to ask, and I could understand why she was so shocked. Hell I was shocked just saying it to her and I knew it was the truth.

"Yeah, I did just say what you think I did" I answered glancing past her momentarily my eyes catching the basket behind her. Once I turned my eyes back to her I could see what looked like mild hyperventilating. I stared at her not knowing what to do to try to fix this.

"We have to get toothless out of the cove." She mumbled looking as though she was quite badly lost in her thoughts. Not bothering to answer her mutterings, I knew she couldn't hear me in the state she was in, I grabbed at her hand reaching around her to latch onto the basket.

Swinging the strap around my shoulder I started to drag her towards the shop. It'd be easier to get him out of the cove if he wasn't hungry. If he was like me and every other boy I knew his mind wouldn't be working too well if he was hungry. I was pretty much worthless to my friends if I hadn't had something to eat. I was the least sociable man on Earth if I hadn't had my dinner.

I kept hold of her hand as I picked up the pace slightly, I kept glancing back to her she wasn't looking forwards and was muttering to herself absentmindedly. I had seen her do this enough to know what was wrong, she was thinking things through, in her mind she was planning what we had to do. I had seen this about three to four times a day, I don't even think she knows she does this. I always found that look on her face to be funny. She looked so gormless. Shaking my head at her I pulled her closer to me and kept her in my line of sight. I was more than a little worried that she'd end up flat on her face.

Keeping a tight grip on her hand I kept my arm locked to help keep her up right. Sometimes I wondered who the more mature one was. It was usually her but right now I felt like I was a parent looking after a daydreaming toddler. I laughed at that thought, hoping she couldn't hear me.

It must have taken up to ten minutes to make it to the only shop I knew where you could walk in at any time and they didn't care. It didn't matter how old you were or if you were clearly a kid skipping school, they didn't care. They just wanted their money. That was why I came here a lot, all the other shops in the village wouldn't let you in during school hours. It was stupid.

I pulled her through the sliding doors and smiled at the almost empty shop, it was only small, not having most of the items every other shop had. But it did have an advantage; it was dead cheap. Pulling Sarah inside the building I smiled to the woman in front of us as she swept the floor. I glanced to the clock I knew was against the wall and stared at it in shock. It was almost dinner. How had time gone so fast? Shaking my head I pushed that thought to the back of my mind. It wasn't an important thing, what was important was stopping those men getting Toothless and doing who knows what to him.

"Arden, where are we going? The fish is in the other direction." I paused as the words and blinked my eyes, almost as though I was in a trance. A small embarrassed blush came to my face as I saw I was heading in the opposite direction. Where was I going? I had no idea, shaking my head to remove the confusion and hopefully the blush I turned and pulled her again. "You know, I think I should pull you. You obviously don't know where you're going." She mused and though it sounded as though it was to me I knew she was just thinking aloud.

Still I wasn't going to ignore her. Even if she did think she was speaking in her head. I dropped her hand momentarily and looked at her when she turned in confusion.

"Lead the way" I told her motioning for her to do just that.

"Really?" She asked, her confusion shifting to a smile. "I never get to lead." She announced as she took my hand now pulling me in the direction she thought was right. I laughed slightly to myself, I could remember her telling me this before.

Hiccup's POV

The smile on my face showed just how happy I was, I was never allowed to lead. I was going to relish in this moment. But the truth was that I had no idea where I was going, I had expected him to do what everyone did and just to ignore me when I pointed out that he was going the wrong way. But he didn't. He was different to everyone else I knew. That fact would slip my mind quite a lot, I kept thinking he was the way I used to think of him as. Ignorant. But he wasn't, he wasn't like my dad and everyone else in Berk. He was different, better.

"You don't know where you're going either do you?" I turned at the voice and was met with a smirking face.

"W-what d-do you mean, of c-course I know where I'm going." I stuttered standing up straighter and pulling him with fake confidence. I cursed myself as soon as I pulled him, why didn't I just ask him to help? I don't know, but then again a girl will do anything to prove herself to her crush.

"Sarah, why don't we just split up? It's a small shop and I'm sure it will help us if we split up. If we find the fish just call for the other. It's not like we'll be annoying anyone, it is a small shop and we're the only ones in here." He tried to convince me but I just shook my head. No, I would just annoy him.

"Sorry," I answered though it was clear from my tone that I didn't mean it. He just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Don't be like that." I teased, pulling him closer as I turned blindly down another aisle. What greeted us was something that made a huge smile grow on my face though I had to try and hide it as much as I could. It would make it clear this was luck if he saw it. I had found Toothless' fish. I stuck my chest out and proclaimed "see, I told you I knew where I was going. And you doubted me"

I smirked at him as I pulled him trying not to look too smug at the look that appeared on his face. I don't think he liked that I was right. As far as he knew I had found this from knowledge not luck. And I was going to make sure that he didn't find out the truth.

"Come on, don't pout" I teased as I pinched his cheeks in a condescending way, making him glare at me. "You can pay for it if you want?" I asked despite the fact that he'd have to pay for it, he had the basket and the money. I had a smug look on my face.

"I hate it when you get like this" he muttered to himself making me laugh.

"Like what?"

"Smug"

I quirked an eyebrow at him as he readjusted the basket on his shoulder; he was trying to look a little bitter at me but I could see the smirk on his face.

"Come on, let's pay for it, I want to get back to Toothless, hopefully we can move him from the cove before those men get to him. I'm not going to let them touch him." I told him determination clear in my tone. He just nodded at me.

"Alright, but before we pay for it we have to choose some first." He deadpanned. I blushed in embarrassment

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about that" I admitted rubbing the back of my head. He just smirked at me and took my arm pulling me closer to the food. I would have protested at the pulling but I was still slightly embarrassed and didn't trust myself to say something intelligent. Keeping my mouth closed I watched him silent as he started to grab as much food as he could carry. Not bothering about the price.

I would have probably paid it a little heed, but I wasn't saying anything. If he wanted to get too much then so be it. Let him be embarrassed. Folding my recently freed arms across my chest I nodded to myself. It was his problem.

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